by Doug Akridge

Created on: July 23, 2009

John McEnroe is an interesting tennis player and possibly one of the most memorable players in the 70's and 80's. Some remember his battles with Bjorn Borg, while others think of an ill tempered player that was fun to watch. He may have had a bad temper but he was an incredibly talented player. He was able to make it to the number one spot in the world rankings, win seven Grand Slam singles titles (four at the U.S. open and the other three at Wimbledon), take nine grand slam doubles titles, and then grab one Grand Slam doubles mixed title with Mary Carillo. McEnroe has a total of 77 singles titles, third most behind Jimmy Connors (109) and Ivan Lendl (94). His most recent accomplishment came in 2006 after a twelve-year absence; McEnroe returned to a doubles competition and became the oldest male player to win a top-level title in thirty years.

McEnroe was born on February 16, 1959 on a United States Army base in Wiesbaden, Germany. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to New York City and he began to learn tennis at Port Washington Tennis Academy in Long Island, NY. In 1977, John was just eighteen when he made it through the qualifying tournament into the main draw at Wimbledon but lost in four sets to Jimmy Connors. A year later, he entered into Stanford University and won the NCAA singles and team titles and then moved on into the professional tour. The first Grand Slam title for McEnroe came in 1979 at the U.S. Open at the age of 20; he was the youngest ever to win since Pancho Gonzalez in the 1948 whom was also 20 years old. This was the same year he was nicknamed super brat by the British Tabloids. The Sun, a British tabloid as well, wrote He is the most vain, ill-tempered, petulant loudmouth that the game of tennis has ever know.

His 1980 Wimbledon final against Bjorn Borg is one of the most memorable matches. The four-time champion Bjorn Borg was up two sets to one and up 5-4 in the fourth set. Soon McEnroe pumped it up to 6-6 and the fourth-set tie breaker lasted 20 minutes until McEnroe saved five match points and won it 18-16. However, Borg came through in the fifth set and won 8-6. The fourth set of this match is often referred to as that tie breaker and the match was rewarded the best Wimbledon final by ESPN in the show Who's number one? A year later, Borg's streak of five consecutive championships was ended by McEnroe in the Wimbledon and Borg's 41 straight winning matches were halted. Before McEnroe took revenge on Bjorn Borg, John was

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