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John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former World No. 1
professional tennis player from the United States.
During his career, he won seven Grand Slam
(tennis)|Grand Slam singles titles – three
at Wimbledon Championships|Wimbledon and four at
the U.S. Open (tennis)|US Open. He is well
remembered for his shot-making artistry, for his
series of classic encounters with Björn Borg, for
his fiery on-court temperament (which frequently
got him into trouble), and for the catchphrase
"You cannot be serious!".

=== Early success ===



McEnroe was born on February 16 1959 in Wiesbaden,
Germany, where his father was stationed with the
US Air Force. He is of Irish Catholic descent.
When he was less than a year old, his family moved
to New York City, and he grew up in Douglaston,
Queens|Douglaston, Queens, New York|Queens. 

McEnroe first took the tennis world by storm in
1977 when, at the age of 18, he made it through
the qualifying tournament into the main draw at
Wimbledon, and then proceeded to make it all the
way to the semi-finals where he eventually lost in
four sets to Jimmy Connors. It was the best
performance ever by qualifier at a Grand Slam
tournament, and a record performance for an
amateur in the open era.

Shortly after, McEnroe entered Stanford University
and won the National Collegiate Athletic
Association|NCAA singles and team titles in 1978.
After that, he joined the professional tour. 

McEnroe signed one of the first professional
endorsement deals in tennis with Nike, Inc.|Nike
in 1978.

McEnroe's game combined shot-making artistry, deft
Volley|volleys, and a fast, attacking style of
play. His sharp reflexes enabled him return the
biggest serves and passing shots masterfully, and
the variety, delicacy and quickness of his play
delighted crowds. However McEnroe also quickly
became known for his competitive fire and volatile
temper. Verbal outbursts seemed to be a key way in
which he motivated himself to battle through tough
situations during matches, but this frequently got
him into trouble.

McEnroe won his first Grand Slam singles title in
1979 at the US Open. He defeated Vitas Gerulaitis
in straight sets in the final to become the
youngest winner of the championships in 31 years
(since Pancho Gonzales, who was also 20, won in
1948). He won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles
that year (for a total of 27 titles, which marked
an open-era record).

=== Famous battles with Björn Borg (1980-81) ===

In 1980, McEnroe reached the men's singles final
at Wimbledon for the first time, where he faced
the legendary Swedish player Björn Borg, who was
gunning for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.
At the start of the final, McEnroe was booed by
the crowd as he entered centre court following
heated exchanges with officials during his
semi-final victory over Jimmy Connors. But the
final itself is remembered for all the right
reasons - it was arguably the greatest Wimbledon
final ever. In a titanic fourth-set tie-breaker
that is often simply called "that tie-breaker",
which lasted 20 minutes, McEnroe saved five match
points from Borg and eventually won the tie-break
18-16. However in the end McEnroe could not break
Borg in the fifth set, which the Swede won 8-6.

Revenge for McEnroe came quickly. The pair met
again in the final of the US Open two months
later, and this time it was McEnroe who emerged
the victor in another outstanding five-set
encounter.

Controversy dogged McEnroe from the start when he
returned to Wimbledon in 1981. Following his
second round match against Tom Gullikson, McEnroe
was fined $1,500 and came close to being thrown
out of the championships as a result of an
infamous blow-up in which he called umpire Ted
James "the pits of the world", and then cursed
tournament referee Fred Hoyles. The phrase "you
cannot be serious" (which several years later
would become the title of McEnroe's autobiography)
was also made famous during the 1981 Wimbledon
campaign as a retort McEnroe frequently made in
response to umpires' calls during his matches. 

But despite the controversy and merciless
criticism from the British press, McEnroe again
made the Wimbledon men's singles final against
Borg. And this time he prevailed, beating Borg in
four sets to end the Swede's run of 41 consecutive
match victories at the All England Club.

But the controversy didn't end there. In response
to McEnroe's on-court outbursts during the
championships, the All England Club did not accord
McEnroe honorary membership of the club, an honour
normally given to first-time singles champions
immediately after their victory. (The honour was
eventually accorded to McEnroe after he won the
championships again.) McEnroe responded by not
attending the traditional champions dinner that
evening. He told the press: "I wanted to spend
(the evening) with my family and friends and the
people who had supported me, not a bunch of stiffs
who are 70-80 years old, telling you that you're
acting like a jerk."

Borg and McEnroe had their final confrontation in
the final of the 1981 US Open. McEnroe won in four
sets, becoming the first male player since the
1920s to win three consecutive US Open singles
titles. (Borg retired very shortly after 1981 US
Open.)

In 1982, British impressionist Roger Kitter made a
record called Chalk Dust: The Umpire Strikes Back
in which he played a parody of McEnroe losing his
temper with an umpire during a match. The record
was made under the nomenclature "The Brat" and
reached the UK Top 20.

=== Continued success (1982-85) ===

McEnroe was in the Wimbledon final again in 1982,
where he lost to Connors in another excellent
five-set match.

In 1983, McEnroe reached his fourth consecutive
Wimbledon final and swept aside the unheralded New
Zealander Chris Lewis (tennis player)|Chris Lewis
in straight-sets.

McEnroe blew away the competition in 1984,
compiling an incredible 82-3 record and winning a
career-high 13 singles tournaments, including his
third Wimbledon and fourth US Open titles. He also
reached the final of the French Open that year,
and seemed to be on the verge of beating Ivan
Lendl when he won the first two sets. But this
time his temperamental outbursts got the better of
McEnroe, and the ice-cool Czech capitalized to win
a dramatic five-setter. The loss ended a 39-match
winning streak, and was the closest McEnroe would
ever come to winning the French Open. However
McEnroe was at his brilliant best in his fifth
consecutive Wimbledon final, playing a virtually
flawless game to destroy Connors in straight-sets
in just 80 minutes 6-1, 6-1, 6-2. And in the US
Open final, he took revenge on Lendl for the
French Open final defeat by winning in
straight-sets.

In 1985, McEnroe qualified for what turned out to
be his last Grand Slam singles final at the US
Open. This time he was defeated in straight-sets
by Lendl.

=== Taking time out ===

By 1986, the pressures of playing at the top had
become too much for McEnroe to handle and he took
a six-month break from the tour. During this
sabbatical, he married the actress Tatum O'Neal.
He returned to the tour later in the year and won
three titles. However McEnroe never seemed to be
able to recapture his very best form again. In
1987, McEnroe failed to win a title for the first
time since turning pro. He took a seven-month
break from the game following the US Open, where
he was suspended for two months and fined $17,500
for misconduct and verbal abuse.

=== World No. 1 ranking ===

McEnroe first reached the World No. 1 singles
ranking in March 1980. He would be ranked World
No. 1 on no less than 14 separate occasions
between 1980 and 1985, and finished the year
ranked World No. 1 for four straight years from
1981-84. He spent a total of 170 weeks as World
No. 1 singles player.

=== Success in doubles ===

McEnroe was also ranked the World No. 1 in doubles
for a record 257 weeks. He formed a powerful
partnership with Peter Fleming (tennis
player)|Peter Fleming, with whom he won numerous
men's doubles titles including four at Wimbledon
and three at the US Open. (Fleming was always very
modest about his own contribution to the
partnership – he once said "the best doubles
partnership in the world is John McEnroe and
anybody else.") McEnroe won a fourth US Open men's
doubles title in 1989 with Mark Woodforde, and a
fifth Wimbledon men's doubles title in 1992 with
Michael Stich. He also won the 1977 French Open
mixed doubles title with childhood pal Mary
Carillo.

=== Representing his country ===

More than any other player in his era, McEnroe was
responsible for reviving American interest in the
Davis Cup, which had been shunned by Connors and
other leading US players. In 1978, he won two
singles rubbers in the final as the US captured
the cup for the first time since 1972, beating
Great Britain in the final. McEnroe continued to
be a mainstay of US Davis Cup teams for the next
14 years, and was part of US winning teams again
in 1979, 1981, 1982 and 1992.  He set numerous US
Davis Cup records, including years played (12),
ties (30), singles wins (41), and total wins in
singles and doubles (59). He played both singles
and doubles in 13 series, and he and Peter Fleming
won 14 of 15 Davis Cup doubles matches together. 

An epic performance was McEnroe's 6-hour,
32-minute five-set victory over Mats Wilander in
the US's 3-2 quarter-final win over Sweden in
1982. He won the match 9-7, 6-2, 15-17, 3-6, 8-6.

McEnroe also helped the US win the World Team Cup
in 1984 and 1985.

=== Final years on the tour ===



Controversy was never far away from McEnroe, even
in the later years of his career. In his fourth
round match against Mikael Pernfors at the 1990
Australian Open, McEnroe was disqualified for
swearing at the umpire, supervisor and referee. He
was warned by the umpire for intimidating a
lineswoman and then docked a point for smashing a
racket. McEnroe was apparently unaware that a new
Code of Conduct which had just been introduced to
the game meant that a third code violation would
not lead to the deduction of a game, but instead
would result in immediate disqualification. So
when McEnroe unleashed a volley of abuse at umpire
Gerry Armstrong, he defaulted there and then and
was thrown out of the championships. 

McEnroe retired from the professional tour in
1992. His last year on the tour was filled with
some notable highlights. He made a stirring run to
the semi-finals at Wimbledon, where he eventually
lost to Andre Agassi. He teamed up with Michael
Stich to win his fifth Wimbledon men’s doubles
title in a record-length five-hour, one-minute
final which the pair won 5-7, 7-6, 3-6, 7-6,
19-17. And he teamed up with Pete Sampras to win
the doubles rubber in the Davis Cup final, where
the US defeated Switzerland 3-1.

=== Career statistics ===

McEnroe won a total of 155 top-level titles (a
record for a male professional) during his career
– 77 in singles, 77 men's doubles, and one mixed
doubles. His career singles match record was
849-184. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles,
and also captured the season-ending Tennis Masters
Cup|Masters championships three times in 1978,
1983 and 1984. In terms of his great rivalries, he
had the edge on Connors (31-20), was even with
Borg (7-7), but did not get the better of Lendl
(15-21) who won nine of their ten encounters after
1985.

=== After retirement from the tour ===

McEnroe was inducted into the International Tennis
Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1999.

He took on the role of US Davis Cup captain in
September 1999, but was not especially successful.
His team barely escaped defeat in their first two
outings in 2000, beating Zimbabwe and the Czech
Republic in tight 3-2 encounters. They were then
defeated  5-0 by Spain in the semi-finals. McEnroe
resigned in November 2000 after 14 months as
captain, citing frustration with the Davis Cup
schedule and format as two of his primary reasons.
His brother Patrick McEnroe took over the job.

McEnroe now fills his time by playing on the
senior tour and being a TV commentator at major
tournaments. He is always the star turn for the
BBC during their extensive coverage at Wimbledon
and, after initial spells of cynicism at the UK's
great hope Tim Henman's chances of winning the
men's title, he has become one of the British
player's biggest fans.

In July 2004, McEnroe began a CNBC talk show,
simply entitled McEnroe. However the show was not
successful, twice earning a 0.0 Nielsen rating,
and was cancelled within five months. He also
hosted quiz show The Chair in both the UK and the
USA but this was unsuccessful as well.

McEnroe played himself in the 2004 movie Wimbledon
(movie)|Wimbledon. 

McEnroe divorced Tatum O'Neal in 1992 and married
musician Patty Smyth in 1997. He has six children
(three with O'Neal, two with Smyth, and one from
Smyth's previous marriage to rock star Richard
Hell). He has full custody of his children from
his first marriage.

Never at a loss for words, in 2002 he wrote a book
entitled "You Cannot Be Serious", an
autobiographical account of his life during and
after tennis. This was published as "Serious: The
Autobiography" in the UK & Ireland. In it he
shared many interesting stories about the
realities of the tennis tour, the role of
corporations in pro tennis, and his off-court,
drug-induced escapades. He is active in
philanthropy and tennis development. McEnroe
currently owns an art gallery in Manhattan.

==Grand Slam singles finals==

===Wins (7)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1979     US Open                 Vitas Gerulaitis
          7-5, 6-3, 6-3
 1980     US Open                 Björn Borg     
           7-6, 6-1, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4
 1981     Wimbledon               Björn Borg     
           4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 6-4
 1981     US Open                 Björn Borg     
           4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-3
 1983     Wimbledon               Chris Lewis     
          6-2, 6-2, 6-2
 1984     Wimbledon               Jimmy Connors   
          6-1, 6-1, 6-2
 1984     US Open                 Ivan Lendl      
          6-3, 6-4, 6-1

===Runner-ups (4)===

 Year     Championship            Opponent in
Final          Score in Final
 1980     Wimbledon               Björn Borg     
           1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-7, 8-6
 1982     Wimbledon               Jimmy Connors   
          3-6, 6-3, 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 
 1984     French Open             Ivan Lendl      
          3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, 7-5
 1985     US Open                 Ivan Lendl      
          7-6, 6-3, 6-4

== External links ==
*
http://www.atptennis.com/en/players/playerprofiles
/default2.asp?playersearch=John+McEnroe Official
ATP Profile
*
http://www.tennisfame.org/enshrinees/john_mcenroe.
html International Tennis Hall of Fame Profile
*http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/history/john_mcenr
oe.html Official Wimbledon Profile
*http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/wimbledon_
history/3742119.stm BBC Profile
*http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/McEnroe_Jo
hn.html ESPN Biography


Tennis World Number Ones (men)