John McEnroe was known for his shot-making and volleying skills, his rivalries with Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors, and his confrontational on-court behavior, which frequently landed him in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities.
96 Facts About John McEnroe
2.
John McEnroe finished his career with 77 singles titles on the ATP Tour and 78 doubles titles; this remains the highest men's combined total of the Open Era.
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John McEnroe is the only male player to win more than 70 titles in both the men's singles and the men's doubles categories.
4.
John McEnroe won 25 singles titles on the ATP Champions tour.
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John McEnroe won seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title.
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John McEnroe excelled at the year-end tournaments, winning eight singles and seven doubles titles, both of which are records.
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John McEnroe was named the ATP Player of the Year and the ITF World Champion three times each: 1981,1983 and 1984.
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John McEnroe contributed to five Davis Cup titles for the US and later was team captain.
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John McEnroe has stayed active in retirement, often competing in senior events on the ATP Champions Tour.
10.
John McEnroe's father, the son of Irish immigrants, was at the time stationed with the United States Air Force, famously revealing during a press conference in Belgium that his son 'John was made in Belgium but born in Germany.
11.
John McEnroe later progressed through the singles qualifying tournament at Wimbledon and into the main draw, where he lost in the semifinals to Jimmy Connors in four sets.
12.
That same week, John McEnroe won the singles US Open title, his first major singles title.
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John McEnroe defeated his friend Vitas Gerulaitis in straight-sets in the final to become the youngest male winner of the singles title at the US Open since Pancho Gonzales, who was 20 in 1948.
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John McEnroe won the prestigious season-ending WCT Finals, beating Bjorn Borg in four sets.
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John McEnroe won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles that year for a total of 27 titles, an Open Era record, finishing at singles world No 3 in the year-end rankings.
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At Wimbledon in 1980, John McEnroe reached the singles final for the first time, where he faced Bjorn Borg, who was gunning for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.
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At the start of the final, John McEnroe was booed by the crowd as he entered Centre Court, following heated exchanges with officials during his semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors.
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John McEnroe exacted revenge two months later, beating Borg in the five-set final of the 1980 US Open.
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John McEnroe was a finalist at the season-ending WCT Finals, and finished as the world No 2 ranked player for the year: behind only Borg.
20.
John McEnroe remained controversial when he returned to Wimbledon in 1981.
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John McEnroe made famous the phrase "you cannot be serious", which years later became the title of his autobiography, by shouting it after several umpires' calls during his matches.
22.
John McEnroe responded by not attending the traditional champions' dinner that evening.
23.
Borg and John McEnroe had their final confrontation in the final of the 1981 US Open.
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John McEnroe won in four sets, becoming the first man since the 1920s to win three consecutive US Open singles titles.
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John McEnroe won his second WCT Final, beating Johan Kriek in straight sets and finished the year as the number one ranked player.
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John McEnroe was named the Associated Press Athlete of the Year, the second men's tennis player to receive the honor after Don Budge in the 1930s.
27.
John McEnroe lost only one set going into the final of Wimbledon 1982.
28.
John McEnroe then fell in the semifinals at the US Open and was runner-up at the WCT Finals.
29.
John McEnroe was able to retain the ATP's world No 1 ranking based on points at the end of the year, having won significant events at Philadelphia, Wembley, and Tokyo; but due to Connors's victories at the two most important events of the year, Connors was named the Player of the Year by the ATP and most other tennis authorities.
30.
In 1983, John McEnroe reached his fourth consecutive Wimbledon final, dropping only one set en route, and swept aside the unheralded Chris Lewis in straight sets for his second Wimbledon crown.
31.
John McEnroe then played at the Australian Open for the first time, reaching the semifinals before being defeated in four sets by Mats Wilander.
32.
John McEnroe made the WCT Final for the third time and beat Ivan Lendl in an epic five-setter.
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John McEnroe took the Masters Grand Prix title for the second time, again beating Lendl in straight sets.
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John McEnroe won prized events at Philadelphia, Forest Hills, and Wembley, enabling him to capture the year-end No 1 ranking .
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John McEnroe won a career-best 13 singles tournaments, including Wimbledon and the US Open, capturing the year-end No 1 ranking.
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John McEnroe played on the winning US World Team Cup and runner-up Davis Cup teams.
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John McEnroe began the year with a 42-match win streak, winning his first six tournaments and reaching his first French Open final, where his opponent was Ivan Lendl.
38.
John McEnroe won the first two sets, but Lendl's adjustments of using more topspin lobs and cross-court backhand passing shots, as well as John McEnroe's fatigue and temperamental outbursts, resulted in a demoralizing five-set loss.
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John McEnroe rebounded at Wimbledon, losing just one set en route to his third Wimbledon singles title.
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John McEnroe then won his fourth US Open title, defeating Lendl in straight sets in the final, after defeating Connors in a five-set semifinal.
41.
John McEnroe won his fourth WCT Final, defeating Connors in straight sets, and took his third Masters Grand Prix, beating Lendl in straight sets.
42.
John McEnroe was suspended for 3 weeks for exceeding a $7,500 limit on fines that had been created because of his behavior.
43.
In 1985, having reached the semifinals at the French Open, John McEnroe was beaten in straight sets by Kevin Curren in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
44.
John McEnroe reached his last major singles final at the US Open; this time, he was beaten in straight sets by Lendl.
45.
John McEnroe did not advance past the quarterfinals at the WCT Finals or the Masters Grand Prix.
46.
John McEnroe did win important events at Philadelphia, Canada and Stockholm and finished the year as the world No 2 ranked player.
47.
When John McEnroe returned to the tour later in 1986, he won three ATP tournaments, but in 1987 he failed to win a title for the first time since turning professional.
48.
John McEnroe took another seven-month break from the game following the US Open, where he was suspended for two months and fined US$17,500 for misconduct and verbal abuse.
49.
John McEnroe became the top-ranked singles player in the world on March 3,1980.
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John McEnroe was the top-ranked player on 14 separate occasions between 1980 and 1985 and finished the year ranked No 1 four straight years from 1981 through 1984.
51.
John McEnroe spent a total of 170 weeks at the top of the rankings.
52.
John McEnroe was a highly successful doubles player, ranking at number 1 in doubles for a combined 270 weeks and winning ten Grand Slam doubles titles, his first was the 1977 French Open mixed doubles title with childhood friend Mary Carillo.
53.
In 1978, John McEnroe 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.
54.
John McEnroe continued to be a mainstay of US Davis Cup teams for the next 14 years, and was part of title-winning teams in 1978,1979,1981,1982, and 1992.
55.
John McEnroe set numerous US Davis Cup records, including years played, ties, singles wins, and total wins in singles and doubles.
56.
John McEnroe played both singles and doubles in 13 series, and he and Peter Fleming won 14 of 15 Davis Cup doubles matches together.
57.
John McEnroe nearly broke that record in a 6-hour, 20-minute Davis Cup loss to Boris Becker five years later.
58.
John McEnroe helped the US win the World Team Cup in 1984 and 1985, in both cases defeating Czechoslovakia in the final.
59.
John McEnroe struggled to regain his form after his 1986 sabbatical.
60.
John McEnroe lost three times at majors to Ivan Lendl, losing straight-set quarterfinals at both the 1987 US Open and the 1989 Australian Open, and a long four-set match, played over two days, in the fourth round of the 1988 French Open.
61.
John McEnroe denied them at the time, but later acknowledged he had used cocaine during his career in a 2000 interview, although he denied that the drug affected his play.
62.
John McEnroe had multiple notable victories in the final years of his career.
63.
In 1989, John McEnroe won a record fifth title at the World Championship Tennis Finals, defeating top-ranked Lendl in the semifinals.
64.
John McEnroe won the RCA Championships in Indianapolis and reached the final of the Canadian Open, where he lost to Lendl.
65.
John McEnroe won both of his singles rubbers in the quarterfinal Davis Cup tie with Sweden.
66.
John McEnroe was warned by the umpire for intimidating a lineswoman, and then docked a point for smashing a racket.
67.
John McEnroe was apparently unaware that a new Code of Conduct, which had been introduced just before the tournament, meant that a third code violation would lead not to the deduction of a game but instead in immediate disqualification.
68.
Later that year, John McEnroe reached the semifinals of the US Open, losing to the eventual champion Pete Sampras in four sets.
69.
John McEnroe won the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel, defeating Goran Ivanisevic in a five-set final.
70.
The last time John McEnroe was ranked in the world's top ten was on October 22,1990; his end-of-year singles ranking was 13th.
71.
In 1991, John McEnroe won the last edition of the Volvo Tennis-Chicago tournament by defeating his brother Patrick in the final.
72.
John McEnroe won both of his singles rubbers in the quarterfinal Davis Cup tie with Spain.
73.
John McEnroe reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the third round at the US Open.
74.
At Wimbledon, John McEnroe reached the semifinals where he lost in straight sets to the eventual champion Andre Agassi.
75.
John McEnroe retired from the professional tour at the end of 1992.
76.
John McEnroe ended his singles career ranked world No 20.
77.
John McEnroe played in one tournament in 1994 as a wildcard at the Rotterdam Open, losing in the first round.
78.
John McEnroe agreed, and they went on to reach the semifinals, but withdrew at that stage because Graf had reached the singles final, and preferred to focus on that tournament.
79.
John McEnroe had learned to play guitar with the help of friends like Eddie Van Halen and Eric Clapton.
80.
John McEnroe was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.
81.
John McEnroe is a sports commentator providing commentary for American television networks such as ESPN, CBS, NBC, and USA at the US Open, the Australian Open, and various ATP tournaments, as well as at Wimbledon for the BBC in the UK.
82.
John McEnroe became the US Davis Cup captain in September 1999.
83.
John 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.
84.
In 2002, John McEnroe played himself in Mr Deeds and again in 2008 in You Don't Mess with the Zohan.
85.
In July 2004, John McEnroe began a CNBC talk show titled John McEnroe.
86.
In 2004, John McEnroe said that during much of his career he had unwittingly taken steroids.
87.
John McEnroe collects American contemporary art, and opened a gallery in Manhattan in 1993.
88.
In 2007, John McEnroe received the Philippe Chatrier Award for his contributions to tennis both on and off the court.
89.
In 2012, John McEnroe, commentating for ESPN, heavily criticized Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic for "tanking" against Andy Roddick at the US Open.
90.
John McEnroe was part of Milos Raonic's coaching team from May to August 2016.
91.
John McEnroe returned to the ATP Tour in 2006 to play two doubles tournaments.
92.
The win meant that John McEnroe had won doubles titles in four different decades.
93.
John McEnroe won the over-45 legends doubles competition at the French Open in 2012.
94.
John McEnroe was married to Academy Award winner Tatum O'Neal, the daughter of actor Ryan O'Neal, from 1986 to 1994.
95.
In 1997, John McEnroe married rock singer Patty Smyth, with whom he has two daughters.
96.
John McEnroe's achievements have led many to consider him among the greatest tennis players in history.