Mcenroe Believes His Sport Is Stuck At Love-Love
John McEnroe surveys the field at Wimbledon and stifles a yawn. He openly worries about his sport. And he thinks he knows what it would take to reinforce the popularity of tennis.
It needs John McEnroe.
Well, not in those words. But you catch his drift.
What Wimbledon needs is a good snarling, snapping rivalry. What it will likely get is a one-sided Steffi Graf slaughter on the women’s side and a totally civilized tiff between top seeds Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras in the men’s draw.
McEnroe would like to see a little cayenne mixed into the Gatorade.
“They are two totally unique people,” McEnroe said on a conference call Monday to promote NBC’s coverage. “Agassi is very charismatic. But Sampras shows no personality on the court. They need to find some way to liven up their rivalry. This good-buddy stuff is not too good for rivalries. There were times when I wasn’t speaking to (Jimmy) Connors.”
Chris Evert, who will share the mike with Dick Enberg and McEnroe, agrees that a good, festering hatred is good for her sport.
“It took years and years for Martina (Navratilova) and I to become good friends,” she said. “There were times we weren’t speaking. We were jealous of each other. We were so different from each other. She had her set of liberal fans and I had my set of conservative fans, and we were pitted against each other.
“The top players in the world can’t be friends. It softens you. You’re not as tough. You don’t want to kill them. There was an unbelievable electricity when McEnroe and Connors played. I don’t sense that anymore.”
By the way, this is NBC’s 27th straight year at Wimbledon. The network will broadcast for 40 hours over nine days, beginning Saturday. The finals are July 8-9.
Around the dial
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