[rasiasertew]

HI all. Sorry for postıng thıs so late but I've been travellıng and havn't had much access to a computer. Durıng the French Open I heard John McEnroe tell a story about a pro match he played. I thınk he brought ıt up because ıt was agaınst a player who ıs now the coach of one of the players whose match he was doıng commentary on. Sorry I can't remember the name. (It may have been Davın). In any case, the story went somethıng lıke thıs. He was playıng a match ın an ındoor court and losıng. Somehow hıs coach or manager got the lıghts to go out so that the match couldn't be fınıshed untll the next day. Of course, Mac ended up wınnıng the match.

I was really shocked. People were ready to ban Davydenko for lıfe because of alleged match fıxıng. And many people ın tennıs openly crıtızed Agassı when he revealed that he had taken (non performance enhancıng) drugs. But after Mac told the story (twıce, on two dıfferent nextworks) there was nothıng. The other commentators dıdn't say a word.

I was apalled that ıt happened, but also that he seemed to thınk ıt was amusıng, lıke cheatıng someone out of a wın (and prıze money) was just part of the god old days of tennıs. And I just couldn't beleıve that no one saıd anythıng.

I'm not a John McEnroe fan at all, so maybe I'm just overreactıng. Thoughts?

Kevın

[Azzi_Kahlila]

He's also admitted to doing recreational drugs throughout his career. I think there's kind of a common consensus in tennis that things that happened before WADA, etc., came into the sport and rules and regulations were tightened are totally ok.

I agree with the premise that, if rules didn't exist at the time to guard against something, players aren't liable (although the example above probably was illegal), but I agree with you that it's quite appalling that things like that often get told as cute anecdotes rather than embarrassing behavior players should be ashamed of. McEnroe is probably the worst offender when it comes to hypocrisy with that stuff.

[ZESINTERS]

HI all. ...

I'm not a John McEnroe fan at all, so maybe I'm just overreactıng. Thoughts?

Kevın

Not at all. The story is downright offending. I miss Mac's STYLE of playing (he was indeed something else to watch) but missing him?
Never.
Now even less.

[clapsoewmred]

Wow, that's pretty egregiously wrong! I can't believe he said that on air.

[Bugamerka]

Wow, that's pretty egregiously wrong! I can't believe he said that on air.

And that he felt free to do so knowing there would be no repercussions.