McEnroe

Greatness...

It's a combination of things.

You look back and you say, "Well...

someone gave me an ability to do something

better than others."

You have to recognize that...

and put yourself on the line...

Shut up!

...especially when you're out there by yourself...

and I didn't do a good enough job of that.

In fact, I did a shitty job of it.

I'm the greatest player that's ever played.

At this point,

why does it not feel that amazing?

It felt like I was doomed.

He's supposed to be John McEnroe.

And if that on occasion

is going to rile somebody or him or me,

well, that's the way it is.

I'm always gonna fight

for what I think's right.

That's the way I was brought up.

I think John is the sort of boy

who can speak up for himself and I like this.

You doing your job umpire?

And I don't think the docile

kid is ever gonna be the champion.

Nice guys don't win at this game.

It's a sport for killers.

He's on the court playing to win.

Answer my question!

The question, jerk!

You're pathetic, do you know that?

Improved by Sailor420 Hope you enjoy the show

Improved by Sailor420

Hope you enjoy the show

I don't ever remember not being able to play tennis.

I only remember knowing how to play.

You're always thinking

what's the other guy thinking?

'Cause you wanna get in his head

and sort of blow it all up.

Get him doubting himself

then you're trying to find a way in

to find his weaknesses

and he's trying to find that same thing with you and...

you're probing and you're looking for an edge.

And you sort of do that in life also.

I mean, I think tennis...

it's a pretty true microcosm of life,

ultimately, if you can handle it.

People think they know him

and they don't know him.

One time, his mom handed me a piece of paper

and it was John's report card from first or second grade.

"John is too hard on himself."

John wasn't satisfied with his A minus...

and she said, "Look...

this is how he's always been."

If you believe in things happening

for a reason...

I was meant to play tennis.

When I first started to play at my local club,

which was a block from my house,

I didn't want to be a tennis player.

It didn't seem to be that cool

until all of a sudden

there was a big, abrupt change.

Tennis is the country's fastest growing sport,

indoors or out, night or day,

Americans have adopted tennis as a national pastime.

It seemed like a phenomenal time.

This thing is exploding and we got these characters.

My name is Vitas Gerulaitis.

That was a goddamn foot over the fucking line!

Personality...

Ille Nastase,

the least loved tennis player in the world.

The fact is that you're a vulgar man...

Jimmy Connors, the King of tennis.

Typical arrogant, petulant...

When a player masturbates a racquet on the court,

that's not sitting in a church on Sunday.

Bjorn Borg has the electric appeal

of a modern rock star.

These are borderline idols.

I thought it was awesome.

What do you want with these guys?

I mean, you fucking guys

are grabbing the shit out of people.

Why is this behavior allowed to go on?

It's because tennis has become big business.

And that's it.

Sweden's national hero, Bjorn Borg,

has won Wimbledon

at the age of 20 years and 27 days.

Bjorn Borg...

I thought he was amazing.

Just the aura of him.

The way he played, the way he looked,

the way he acted.

Oh, yeah.

He was like a Viking God.

When I saw these girls screaming

outside the locker room...

It was like the closest thing I'd ever seen to

when The Beatles came to the States.

It was like Borg-mania.

And I'm thinking, in tennis?

This guy is the coolest guy in the world to me.

Oh, my God!

I wanna be a tennis player.

I thought Douglaston was terrible.

It got way better, way better, after I went to Wimbledon.

That changed my life.

One of the biggest and more pleasant surprises

of the first week of Wimbledon has been the performance

of 18-year-old John McEnroe from New York City.

John, how does it feel being in the quarter finals

at Wimbledon?

Well, I wasn't even thinking about winning any rounds here.

I was just--I played the qualifying in Roehampton

and I, uh--I just was hoping

to get in to the tournament and do the best I can.

And now I'm in the quarters,

I don't know what to think at this point.

Greatness comes in potential

and that is God given.

In '77, Mary Carillo at Wimbledon

ran up to me and she says,

"I want you to come and see this guy, John McEnroe.

What do you think? What do you think?"

I looked at his body and I thought,

"God, he doesn't have a lot of muscle.

But his timing and his variety of shots,

whoa!"

Oh, my word!

Who is this kid?

- Fault! - Oh, no! Oh, come on!

My patience was very thin

especially when I was younger.

You're quite sure?

- Seven all. - Oh!

The ball was so far in.

- You see it in? - Mister McEnroe...

The culture shock was the way everyone acted.

They were so proper.

Whether he has a right

to make such a fuss is debatable.

It was like an alien country to me.

- Yeah! - He's done it!

England's Wimbledon tennis tournament

has an upset hero in its hundredth year.

He's 18-year-old, John McEnroe of New York

who became Wimbledon's first player

to come through the qualifying competition

to reach the Men's Semifinals.

I'm in the semis and all of a sudden

I'm with Gerulaitis, Borg, and Connors.

I'm like, "What?

Are you kidding me, I'm gonna be around these guys?

How did this happen?"

I was petrified when I played Connors.

My legs were shaking.

"No, sir, like Mr. Connors, nice to meet you."

And he just blew me off completely.

Why is this guy such an asshole?

He won't even acknowledge my existence.

Treating me like absolute shit.

He probably saw

that I was gonna be an obstacle for him.

But he's one of the greatest competitors ever.

No question.

Game, set, match to Connors.

The effort that he gave,

the intensity...

I wanna try to get to that.

Mr. McEnroe, you started your son playing tennis.

Did you expect it to end up this way?

Well, we joined this little club

just a few minutes from where we live at home.

I beat John consistently from eight until he was ten.

- And that was the end of it? - That was the end of it.

My dad and John were very similar...

in a lot of ways.

Very intense,

very driven.

Both of them lash out.

He was ambitious, you know, he came from nothing, um,

so he was incredibly smart

and graduated from college and from law school early.

We weren't poor, obviously,

but we weren't, you know,

living in a mansion and taking trips in the summer.

We came here to the club and played tennis.

There's no doubt that John being the first

got disciplined the most.

My mom used to love to tell the story that

when my dad came home from Law School and said,

"Look, Kay. I finished second.