‘It’s not fair that Djokovic is the villain while Federer and Nadal get love’
John McEnroe knows what it’s like to be the bad guy.
In 1981, McEnroe was the first male Wimbledon champion for more than 100 years not to be invited to join the All England Club.
He had just ended Bjorn Borg’s five-year reign as champion over four sets, but that was not why. Instead, the club said he had brought the game into disrepute with his behaviour. They had even tried to throw him out of the competition mid-tournament, only to be told a fine was the maximum punishment available for his “you cannot be serious” tirade against umpire Edward James.
In certain circles, McEnroe remained persona non grata even after his belated admission to the All England Club, and while Novak Djokovic has never quite received such overt rejection, the American thinks the 24-time grand slam champion is a kindred spirit – especially when compared to fellow greats Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
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“Rafa and Roger have legendary reputations, deservedly so. They’ve been incredible. Novak has not only equalled them but surpassed them in overall achievements, which seemed impossible,” McEnroe said.
“Both of those guys, Rafa and Roger, they are total class acts. They are loved and respected around the world. Novak gets the unfair treatment. He’s the villain, the bad guy.
“I guess you need a good guy and a bad guy in a way. It can help the sport when you have rivalries like that.
“I think it’s been unfair, honestly, because he is great for the game, on and off the court.”
In McEnroe’s case, the righteous anger that filled the pages of newspapers for weeks, months and even years afterwards eventually dissipated, although in parts of the public consciousness, forgiveness was not given until years later.
But he has reinvented himself as a commentator on pundit, to such success that he regularly spends his Wimbledon hopping between commentary boxes, doubling up with shifts for the BBC and US broadcaster ESPN.
As with any broadcaster in front of a massive audience, McEnroe divides opinion, but his repeated appearances suggest he is doing something right.
“My late great friend Vitas Gerulaitis [1977 Australian Open champion] did some commentary, way back when in the 80s, early 90s, before he tragically passed away,” McEnroe says.
“And I remember thinking to myself when I was still playing that if I ever did commentary, I wanted to be like him because he had fun doing it, which I think came across. Hopefully people feel that when I do it, that I’m enjoying this.
“I get to be at Wimbledon, how bad could it be? And [I get to] be like a backseat driver. ‘Well, you should have done this!’.
“The mike turned out to be a blessing in disguise for me, because I was able to show a side of my personality that I was pretty miserable at showing on the court; that I like to have some fun and can be hopefully a little bit funny at times, but then I knew the game. So I think that’s the combination that works for me.”
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As Andy Murray and Nadal slowly follow Federer into retirement, there is potential for a new generation of pundits to be born. “The Golden Era” of men’s tennis might be played out in the commentary box after two decades of being played out on court, although only Murray has shown interest or aptitude for doing so, despite the clamour whenever there is even a hint of Federer returning to the microphone.
“I’d welcome it,” McEnroe adds.
“I wouldn’t mind working with them if they were doing it. I’d love to, it’d be fun.
“Andy’s got that dry sense of humour. I don’t know him that well, but everything I hear off the court, he likes to be light hearted and have fun.
“It depends how he would approach it but I’ve heard him a little bit talk about some matches, and he obviously knows a game inside out.
“He’d have obviously the insight of having played a lot of these players so from that standpoint, it would be quite interesting.
“But I don’t anticipate Roger doing tennis commentary. He’s got a lot of other things going on.”
That of course is one of the advantages of being the good guy; everyone wants a piece of you. Fortunately, Djokovic has made the “bad guy” thing work for him.
“He’s been able to do something that I wasn’t able to do nearly as well which is turning lemons into lemonade,” McEnroe adds.
“When people want to see the underdog or someone else winning, he somehow uses that as fuel to help him. That’s an incredible quality which you can’t underestimate.”
These days, no one ever does.