In 1984 John McEnroe won his fourth U.S. Open title, defeating Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final a mere 16 hours after his five-set Super Saturday semifinal victory over Jimmy Connors. Twenty-five years after that triumph—his seventh and final at a Grand Slam—TENNIS.com caught up with McEnroe, 50, outside of New York City’s Madison Square Garden. (As part of a prostate health awareness campaign, the outside of the arena currently features a 100-foot billboard of McEnroe, a Stand Up to Cancer ambassador.) Excerpts of the chat, during which McEnroe discussed the grueling U.S. Open schedule, this year’s draw, and that wacky final weekend 25 years ago:
Does what you accomplished at the U.S. Open in 1984 seem like a greater achievement when you look back at it in retrospect? It seems these days it is hard for some players to recover from a tough match in even 48 hours, let alone 24.
John McEnroe: First of all, I played in five finals and I won four of the five here, but I still believe there should be a day of rest. While it affected Lendl perhaps a little bit more that day than it did me—I was lucky enough to find a reserve that I didn’t know I had—the following year it cost me the final, in my opinion. If I had that day off, I think I would’ve won the match, because I had beaten Lendl in the two finals leading up to the U.S. Open [in 1985].
Especially nowadays when the game is arguably more physical than ever, it’s really a disservice, to be quite honest, to the players because it’s very difficult to be able to play your best. You can go back a lot of years to where you’ve seen a great Open final, because it’s really tough to back it up, especially when you’re talking about best of five, playing two days in a row. It’s just a really tall order. And you have to go a long ways back, maybe to the—I’m trying to think—there were a couple of finals that went the distance, but a lot of them weren’t even close because I think one player was way more effective.
How did you find that reserve in 1984? Was it the crowd’s energy?
It was the energy of a New York crowd, but I’d like to think I was a little better [than Lendl] at that time. But I remember walking into the locker room [before the final] and I felt really stiff and I’d played until 11:20 p.m. But I knew that Lendl had played a 7-6-in-the-fifth match as well, so he’d have to be feeling something. And I walked by where he was in the locker room, and I saw him stretching and he could barely get below his knees. And so I thought, he’s even as bad or worse than I am. So that maybe if I could just dominate early and play the level that I’d been playing, that I could get rid of him before it really became incredibly difficult to keep performing at that level. So it’s certainly not the way you’d want it to happen, ideally, but you’re always looking for an edge, and I sensed that, and I was playing at the best level of my life, so that was probably the biggest thing.
What were your initial impressions of this year’s draw? Are you glad Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal aren’t in the same half?
I think it sort of worked out the way you would hope, that they weren’t all stacked in one area. The Roddick-Djokovic quarter sort of seems fitting, in that Roddick wouldn’t have to play the top three at least until the semis. That Murray and Nadal are on the same side, because there’s dispute over the No. 2 and No. 3. That Roger and Rafa are still in different halfs. So it sort of worked out that way.
Richard Gasquet in the first round for Nadal is obviously tricky, because he’s a former Top 10 player. But for the most part, it seems fairly straight ahead in terms of what you would come to expect and hope for. There’s not going to have to be some part of the draw that’s wide open, per se.
What do you expect to see from Nadal? Do you think he’ll be way off his best level?
It’s difficult to say, it’s really difficult to say. I wouldn’t say way off his best. Certainly his most difficult surface is this. I’d like to think that if he does well, and I hope he does, that he may actually be the fresher of the top players when it comes to the end, because he didn’t play for a couple of months. But first he has to get there, so that’s easier said than done.
What he’s added to our sport recently, I’d love to see him be back and healthy and doing well. And he could still be No. 1 for the year. If he won this and finished the year strong, to me there’d be an argument, especially if he were to beat Federer in this tournament and/or the Masters, that he’d be the No. 1 player in the world.
Any predictions for the women?
It’s hard for me not to pick Serena or Venus, one of those two. I would pick Serena; she just seems to rise to the occasion. But there’s a lot of storylines that could be interesting, so hopefully we’ll see some of that in the tournament. But it’s hard for me to think that one of those two won’t win it. But I think they’re in the same half, so that complicates things a little bit.
Abigail Lorge is the managing editor of TENNIS.com.