John McEnroe reveals why he broke his great Wimbledon vow
John McEnroe has shared some thoughts on why you should never say never.
In a conversation with Nick Kyrgios for Hana Kuma’s YouTube channel, McEnroe admitted that many of the things he vowed he would never do have wound up being things he has done and even enjoyed.
McEnroe recalls that he infamously promised that if he won Wimbledon he wouldn’t be back.
He revealed that promise was down to the way he was portrayed in local media during Wimbledon.
Kyrgios asked McEnroe about becoming a commentator and whether as a player he had vowed he would never do that and the American made a frank admission.
“Pretty much everything that I said I wouldn’t do, I’ve done,” McEnroe said.
“You know, I’ll never play seniors tennis, never commentate. I wouldn’t be caught dead doing that.
“I’ll never own a tennis academy and I’m fed up with these people.”
McEnroe says that his frustration at not being able to get over the line at Wimbledon was compounded by his irritation with the press but that feeling vanished when he won the title for the first time.
“So it is sort of when you’re in the middle of the eye of the storm, which I felt like some of it was my fault,” McEnroe said.
“There was 15 local newspapers in London. So everyone’s trying to come up with something too. Yeah, you know, a reason why you would pick up one of them.
“And I think that because of that embellishment of the truth or outright just making things up seems to become the norm.
“Yeah. And there’s nothing you can do about it, which is frustrating. So I sort of had this, if I ever win this damn tournament, I’m out of here. I’m never coming back. And, you know, I was my frustration was growing because I sort of was considered one of the favourites.
“You know, I made it to Wimbledon at 18, in 1977. So I’m thinking, all right, this is perfect for me. I’m going to kick some ass. And, you know, a couple of 3 or 4, four years I could have won, I lost the match to Borg.
“It was the most memorable matches I was ever part of, but I lost.
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“I win the tournament. And I’m like, having said, I’m never coming back.
“And I felt like right at that moment I could fly. Like I could fly out of the stadium. I was like the relief and just the joy was so great.
“And then I remember by five minutes later, like, I want to win this again, I got to come back here.
“It’s actually a lot easier now than it was then, because when you’re coming, you know this, you come in, you’re trying to win it.
“You are sort of locked up and you feel like you can’t do anything.
“You’re lucky if you have a, you know, good night out or go to a good restaurant.”
