Tough times for ‘McEnnui’

Press, 10 July 1985, Page 42

Tough times for ‘McEnnui’

When the gentlemen’s singles final was played at Wimbledon on Sunday, John McEnroe was not on the centre court. The three-time champion lost in the quarter-finals last Wednesday - the first time since 1979 that . the world’s best tennis player failed to reach the title match. His departure from the world’s most prestigious tennis tournament was mourned by some tennis devotees, but many more seemed to be smiling the way people do when the neighbourhood spoiled brat finally gets smacked. Even when the spoiled brat does not understand why they are smiling. Or why he is being smacked. “In this country, I’m an easy target,” McEnroe said qf England the other day. “And I don’t think I’m that interesting a person to warrant the attention. I thought I had more to offer the game.” The shame is that McEnroe has always had more to offer the game — the talent of arguably the most gifted player in tennis history; But he haS also been arguably the most galling player in tennis history — whining, pouting, sneering, often tasteless, occasionally obscene. He alone strung the racquet of his personality with that image, prompting his “McNasty’’ and “Superbrat” nicknames in the British tabloids that hound him. But in the monotony of

his immaturity, .McEnroe deserves a new nickname — “McEnnui”. At 26, McEnroe is now more boring than brash. His act has grown old and tired. So has his inability to understand why so many people seem to root against him. His description of himself in London as an “easy target” was similar to his

reaction to having been upset by Bill Scanlon in the quarter-finals of the United States Open two years ago.

“It’s too bad it had to happen here,” he said that day at Flushing Meadows, “but the people seemed to be happy about it.” Several months later, upon winning the Volvo Masters early in .1984 at

Madison Square Garden, he talked about having been inspired by “things I let bother me” in the past. Asked what things he had in mind, McEnroe said: “People yelling ’Brat’ or ‘Superbrat.’ I’ll never understand why people do that.” McEnroe, sadly, still doesn’t seem to understand why people do that, or why the British tabloids hound him. In his appeal for appreciation instead of persecution, he looks everywhere but in the mirror. But at least he seemed to understand why he lost last Wednesday in straight sets to Kevin Curren of Austin, Texas, a transplanted South African. , . •

“I know 26 is not old age,” he said afterward, “but I’ve been on the tour eight years and at times it catches up to you. As you get older, you see things that are more enjoyable. I understand a lot of things about how Borg felt now.”

Three years ago Bjorn Borg stopped playing serious competitive tennis at 26, but McEnroe is not talking about doing anything quite that rash. During what was a mild Wimbledon for him, some people there wondered if he had been depressed by the absence of the actress, Tatum O’Neal, who had accompanied him to the French Open two months ago. Rather than expose her to the harassment of the British headlines, he suggested that she not go to

London for the Wimbledon fortnight. “And when John tenses up about things,” his doubles partner Peter Fleming said, “nothing flows.” In repose, McEnroe is not an ogre. Many of his contemporaries defend him as a “nice guy, friendly and helpful”. And, despite his dislike for the British tabloids, he has not disappeared into a cocoon, as some athletes do. He recognises his responsibility to the public by dutifully appearing in the interview room after a match. During those inquisitions, he is invariably articulate and appealing. Through the years, McEnroe has played more Davis Cup matches than any other American - until his recent refusal to sign a code of conduct decreed this year following the controversial behaviourof Connors and McEnroe iin Sweden at last year’s Davis Cup final. McEnroe, typically, did not understand why the Davis Cup code of conduct was mandatory now. He never seems to understand things that pertain to things he might find if he looked in the mirror. But it’s really too late for him now. If he looked in the mirror, he would ' see what has appeared there lately — McEnnui.

DAVE ANDERSON

‘New York Times’