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John McEnroe, unsurprisingly perhaps, agrees with Boris Becker that modern tennis needs some candour, some edginess, on court and off, to breath life back into a game that has been too nice for too long.
In separate interviews with our sister paper the Guardian in the past few days, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have agreed there is an unspoken pact of mutual respect, without going all the way with Becker, who says Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, “really don’t like each other”.
McEnroe, who created more than a few stirs at Wimbledon gathering his three titles, tells a small group of reporters who are not exactly knocked off their seats by the declaration: “I don’t know if, deep down, they get along as well as they say they do.
“There’s respect there. I always got along with Borg, who was my greatest rival. People like to see me and Connors, me and Lendl, go at it. We didn’t like each other. I can’t advocate people not liking each other. But … I’d prefer it.”
The man at the heart of the biggest press room bust-up in the history of Wimbledon – in 1981 between American and British reporters over Fleet Street questions about his relationship with Stacy Margolin – has a solution to get some conflict up and running.
“If you really want to get it more exciting: no linesmen. And have the players call their lines. That would make the game more exciting, I promise you. It would be awesome. You would have more of what we liked in the past.
“It was fun when guys were trash-talking each other and yelling at each other, me and Connors, or whatever. You’d start getting more of that. You’d also have the challenge, the replay system. It’s not as if it’s not there. And you’d have an umpire who could settle some type of dispute if necessary.
“The players need to be able to feel they can express themselves. In other sports, you’re protected more. I’m sure on the soccer pitch, they’re not saying: ‘Hello, how are you?’ Or on the rugby field.
“We have it in America with sports. They are out there yelling at each other [as he mimes effing and blinding] and you know they’re not saying, ‘Hello, how are you?’ Yet you don’t really hear it. Is it really different in tennis? Should it be treated differently? Do the mics have to be there as high as they are? We hear this virtually every match, ‘We’d like to apologise for Mr Murray’s comments, he may have said something.’
“I got fined. They would go back and listen to my matches and two days later I’d be fined. Because no one heard it while it was being played, but they heard it on some mic behind the court. Is that the way it should be? I don’t think so.”
On his annual pilgrimage to Wimbledon on behalf of the BBC, McEnroe never fails to bring with him left-field suggestions that are worth listening to – or chuckling at. Some of his 2015 offerings (tweaking previous pronouncements) are out of the top drawer.
“The warm up is boring. I would do it more like boxing. I don’t think they need to hit balls before they play. They are so finely tuned – and I think it would be more interesting.
“They should play through lets on serve. I know it would add an element of unpredictability which, by the way, would be good. It would speed up the match and be one less thing to worry about.
“I would put tie-breakers in the fifth set, no question about it. I’ve actually thought of the possibility of a tie‑breaker at 3-all in the fifth set.
“If you’re going to have a shot clock, you should enforce it. I’m not a big believer that is a problem. I think that’s overrated.”
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