McEnroe, John P.
Tennis
b. Feb. 16, 1959, Wiesbaden, Germany
A 5-11, 170-pound lefty, McEnroe was a superb tennis player, but was unfortunately best known for his terrible temper tantrums and profane outbursts at officials, which won him the nicknames "Superbrat," "Mac the Strife," and the "Incredible Sulk."
As a student at Stanford University in 1977, McEnroe became the youngest man ever to reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon. After winning the 1978 NCAA singles title, McEnroe turned professional and won the first of three consecutive U. S. Open singles championships in 1979. He also won the Grand Prix Masters and World Championship Tennis (WCT) finals that year.
McEnroe had an off year in 1980, although he won his second U. S. Open title, but he had a great year in 1981. He won the U. S. Open, Wimbledon, the Grand Prix Masters, and the WCT finals and was named AP male athlete of the year.
However, the achievement was marred by his behavior at Wimbledon, where he was fined 5,000 pounds for an angry outburst in his first match. McEnroe refused to attend the traditional champions' dinner and, for the first time in history, the All-England Tennis Club didn't extend an honorary membership to the men's singles champion.
In 1982, McEnroe reached the Wimbledon finals but was badly bothered by an ankle injury. His game performance in struggling through a five-set loss to Jimmy Connors won McEnroe his All-England honorary membership.
McEnroe won the Wimbledon singles for the second time in 1983 and he won at both Wimbledon and the U. S. Open in 1984. In addition to his seven singles championships, he won eight doubles titles in grand slam tournaments.
In his final year of playing majors, 1992, McEnroe completely won over the Wimbledon crowd. Though unseeded, he won his way through to the finals, where he lost to Andre Agassi. However, he did team with Michael Stich to win the men's doubles championship.
McEnroe ranks third all time with 77 career victories and twelfth in winnings with $12,539,622. He had an 849-184 record in singles matches. McEnroe also won 77 doubles championships. He played for 12 Davis Cup teams, including four champions, winning 41 singles and 18 doubles matches.
Since 1993, McEnroe has been an incisive and informative tennis commentator on televised events. His marriage to actress Tatum O'Neal produced three children and ended in divorce. He then married singer and bandleader Patty Smyth, by whom he has two children.