Mac The Mouth Is Back In Town
The Sunday Age
Sunday June 27, 1999
THERE is a lot of snow on the roof, the tantrums are now staged to amuse the crowd rather than to intimidate the officials, the corkscrew serve doesn't quite have the same pop and the ring in his left ear looks very 1983.
But at 40 John McEnroe still draws a crowd, which is why his appearance with Steffi Graf in the mixed doubles had matchoftheday status.
And, as ever, McEnroe did not let the fans, or the reporters, down. While he now does his best work in the commentary box, he still had enough game to help Graf pound out a 62, 64 win over unheralded fall guys Jeff Coetzee and Eva Melicharova, who had the unenviable task of playing Washington Generals to McEnroe and Graf's Harlem Globetrotters.
From the first point, when Graf missed a forehand and McEnroe threw his racquet in mock rage, it was clear the match would be part vaudeville, part tennis.
Beyond them both being born in Germany - McEnroe's father was in the army - the pair seem to have nothing in common. But McEnroe was Graf's childhood hero and the idea of them playing together gathered momentum through the press.
And while the legs don't pump as quickly, McEnroe is still fast off the mouth. When a reporter asked Graf about her next opponent, Belgian qualifier Kim Clijsters, McEnroe cut her short. ``Steffi is going to destroy another teenager mentally. (Martina) Hingis is a basket case now. You see, it's nice to be 30."
On the subject of local hero Tim Henman's match against Jim Courier - who beat Henman in America's Davis Cup victory over Great Britain - McEnroe was at his caustic best. ``Perfect, perfect, the Brits are already starting to sweat," he said, before offering Henman a backhanded prospect of redemption. ``There's a great chance for him to erase some demons, get over that Davis Cup debacle where the Brits choked their little fannies off."
Amid the banter, there was genuine feeling between the two alltime greats.
``I felt so nervous coming out and, you know, when I walked out I was kind of proud to play with you," said Graf turning to McEnroe.
McEnroe said he had tried to ensure he enjoyed the occasion because he had not enjoyed his career enough. ``When you have the opportunity to see someone who's done so much and still loves to play and compete and gets to that point (where she enjoys herself), that's amazing, you know, and God knows she should enjoy it at this point."
© 1999 The Sunday Age
