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John McEnroe, often recalled as much for his scathing criticism of umpires as his electrifying skills on the tennis court, celebrated his 50th birthday on Monday.
McEnroe, whose 77 career titles rank third in all-time Open Era crowns to Jimmy Connors’ 109 and Ivan Lendl’s 94, was born to Katy and John Snr. at the US military base at Wiesbaden in what was then West Germany.
McEnroe’s family, of Irish heritage, moved to New York when he was an infant and went on to a spectacular career that saw him reach world number one, win more than $US12.5 million and capture seven Grand Slam singles titles.
McEnroe won the US Open in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1984 and Wimbledon in 1981, 1983 and 1984. He lost his only French Open final in 1984 and played Australian Opens only five times, with his 1983 debut semi-final run the best showing.
His legendary career also included playing on five US Davis Cup championship squads and winning nine Grand Slam doubles crowns.
In 1980, just 15 days past his 21st birthday, McEnroe passed Bjorn Borg to become the youngest man in tennis to receive the world number one ranking, an age mark since surpassed by Russian Marat Safin and Australian Lleyton Hewitt.
McEnroe spent 170 weeks atop the rankings, trailing only Swiss star Roger Federer, Lendl, Connors and record-holder Pete Sampras in time at the top.
On the eve of his milestone birthday, McEnroe lost 7-6 (12/10) 6-4 to Sampras, 37, in the finals of a Champions Cup over-30 tour event at Boston.
McEnroe, who beat Sampras in last year’s finals of the event, failed in four set-point chances in the tie-breaker to fall but won respect from 14-time Grand Slam champion Sampras for his skills after retiring from ATP play in 1992.
“It’s incredible how well this guy still plays. I’m in awe of it actually,” Sampras said. “At 50, it’s amazing to move that well. It’s pretty incredible. He’s still in great shape – his hands, his experience, he knows where to go.
“He doesn’t move quite as well but it’s pretty remarkable at 50 he plays this well.”
McEnroe was quick to point the finger of blame at himself, not the umpire.
“I gave it everything I had,” McEnroe said. “I felt like I was on the ball. His serve was difficult to read. I had a break. Any time you have a break on a reasonably quick court you can make the argument that you should win the set.”
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