Tennis Pros, bros and ESPN analysts John & Patrick McEnroe talked with us reporters about the upcoming US Open coming to NY August 29 to September 11. They discussed the Williams Sisters, the lack of American finalists and a subject close to John’s heart: emotion on the court. Here are some highlights:
Q. I wanted to ask you about Venus Williams, because I’m covering the women’s portion for ESPNW. We’ve seen Serena step forward and reassert herself, but we haven’t seen that of Venus. I guess I’m wondering if we’re seeing the twilight here of her career?
PATRICK McENROE: I think we’re definitely seeing the twilight. That doesn’t mean that she can’t have a lot more success. But obviously, the biggest factor is her health. She hasn’t been able to get 100% healthy. Serena has obviously been able to get herself in great shape and spend a lot of time working out, and you can see that that’s paying off. For Venus, it’s probably been pretty tricky for her to do that in the last year and a half. But clearly, if she can, she can still be a factor. But at the moment, that’s a huge if.
JOHN McENROE: I’ll just add real quick I saw her in January. We played an event together in Hong Kong and even then she was sort of claiming to be saving it for Australia, not really going real hard, serving hard in the mixed doubles. I think she ended up pulling out in Australia and not playing at all at Wimbledon. The way it’s going, you can’t just at this stage this late be able to just step in and be able to do that. Not only is it difficult just from lack of match play but just to remain healthy for a whole event. She’s got to get out there more consistently, I think, at this point if she really wants to do something big or even have a chance of that.
Q. Pat and John, do you buy into this situation that Americans are not watching tennis simply because there aren’t any American men out there? I mean the quality of play is phenomenal. I can’t really see that’s a valid reason.
JOHN McENROE: Well, I think there is some truth to that. We’ve been pretty successful over the years, so subsequently I’m sure a lot of our fans have gotten spoiled and are wondering why we’re not succeeding as much. I think it’s only natural. That’s why people have a rooting interests in teams. Would they watch the Cincinnati Bengals play the Seattle Seahawks if they’re in New York in the playoffs? A good portion of people would watch if they felt like these teams were good or the playoff teams or even the Patriots versus the Colts. But they would certainly prefer in the New York area if the Jets or the Giants were playing. I think it’s only natural in a worldwide game where there are things such as Davis Cup and the Olympics that people would want to feel and share in a tiny way the success of someone from America, and that just adds a little juice to it.
So to me the Major League Baseball and NBA have done a good job where a lot of the players are no longer Americans, and they still market the game better than we have, I believe, in terms of getting the fans to know the players better. But ultimately, I still think these fans in those sports still want to see Americans as well.
If it was all foreigners or all the top players, it would be more difficult. So this is why it’s people like both Patrick and myself, among others, that are trying to get something happening here in the States again and the buzz back to our sport and to get some champions again. I think it’s important for the game as well. America’s a huge market.
PATRICK McENROE: I would just add to that I think there are two different ways to look at it. Number one is you look at the attendance of the US Open, and it will just keep going up. It’s bigger and better every year, essentially. Where it does hurt is when the Americans aren’t playing in the final weekend or the final four or five days of the event. So I think obviously a Federer‑Nadal match is going to maybe spark the interest of sort of a casual fan. But if Serena Williams were playing, particularly when we had Agassi and Sampras, those are two Americans. When you have John and Jimmy, also two Americans, you know, Chrissy Evert and Martina. Martina became an American. We were pretty spoiled.
I think that obviously overall television numbers are down for every sport except the NFL. But there is no doubt that having the Americans in the final weekend of majors raises the ratings for television coverage.
Moderator: I would add that, yes, of course fans will grasp on to American stars more quickly. If there was an American Federer, who knows how that would rate. But we do quite well with the stars we have because the fans want to see greatness. They like charisma. They like flair and rivalries. So ratings do rise for certain matchups and players regardless of their nationality. It’s just a matter of the folks getting to know them, and that’s part of what we do at ESPN with profiles and so forth and trying to personalize the players.
Q. John, as you and all of us know, emotion is really a key part of this great game we saw it at Wimbledon when Djokovic was really struggling, and then in the third round Baghdatis slammed his racquet a few times. You could argue that really helped him turn around the match. And Harrison is an exciting player, and he really slams his racquet a lot on court. Then the other night in Cinci we saw Andy get frustrated and hit a ball in the stands.
JOHN McENROE: God bless America. It still happens. It’s good to see.
Q. Anyway, my question is Yannick said the code of conduct is the worst thing that happened to to the game. People should be allowed to holler and throw racquets. But Becker said way too many rules, too politically correct. We should show emotion. Your thoughts on that? Should the code of conduct be loosened or should it be tossed out? What’s wrong with showing emotion?
JOHN McENROE: You’re not asking me that seriously, right?
Q. Johnny, we need it. You’re the man.
JOHN McENROE: That’s like you’re just feeding me to the blood in the water for sharks. You know the answer to that before you even asked.
Q. Hey, America is looking to you, John. We need to hear the truth. Preach.
JOHN McENROE: Well, I think that you’ve put it out there and you’ve mentioned some people that were emotional players. I think there is no question in our sport in a one‑on‑one game that people gravitate to players they can relate to on some level emotionally. That’s why I think the game is in an upswing, the men’s game in particular. You’re seeing guys show their personality, and the quality is improving and the athleticism. But as importantly is that you’re starting to see more emotion from a guy like Djokovic sort of back to the way he was. That’s becoming successful.
That was a dicey call. I felt that was a tight call when Andy got that one‑point penalty to lose his serve in the third. That’s where you wish that the guy would be. Because that’s sort of he was sort of melting down, but he sort of contributed to the meltdown and maybe that didn’t need to happen. I felt like that’s a tough one there.
But in general there is no doubt that ‑‑ I think they realized long ago when they tightened the rules for me and Connors, mainly, and a few other guys, that over the course of time they’ve squeezed it too much. I think they are trying to loosen things up. I think that is definitely something that they need to do. I noticed, for example, I’m trying to remember the match, but it was yesterday where one of the players ‑‑ it wasn’t a code of conduct thing. It’s when Djokovic, a ball fell out of his pocket during a point or a piece of tape. The guy said listen next time you’re going to get a point penalty, so he told him. If Djokovic had a little stuff hanging, he could double check that and not feel like he wasn’t told. So those are the type of things. Talking to the person and knowing the guy’s name and talking in that way, that would be quite helpful.
Q. But you think it’s really key to the game? I mean, that’s what makes tennis appealing is the feelings, the emotions.
JOHN McENROE: Yeah, I do, Of course. Is the Pope Catholic?