Three-time Wimbledon singles champion John McEnroe, 52, is now a TV commentator in the US and for the BBC. Divorced from actress Tatum O’Neal, with whom he had three children, he now lives in New York with his second wife, musician Patty Smyth, and their two daughters.
Your life can change in an instant. My big moment was my first time at Wimbledon when I was 18 playing in the semi-finals against Jimmy Connors. I knew that this was a moment that would change my life. My legs were literally shaking.
Simple things give me joy. There is great satisfaction in something as basic as a good hug.
English people have great dignity. They love someone who puts up a good fight, who doesn’t necessarily win, but still behaves in a way that is respectable. In America we are taught to win at all costs. I now believe it is good to accept defeat with grace as opposed to being a sore loser.
If you have trust, you can get through anything that comes your way. The key to my happiness with Patty is trust in each other and being honest.
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Being a parent brings you unparalleled respect. When you’re a parent, people look at you in a different way. There is an understanding among people that you have this magical responsibility. It’s really nice.
Passion is engaging. Even now when I’m playing tennis on the seniors tour, people want to see that anger. It’s sort of entertaining. People like it. I still get a kick out of “You cannot be serious.”
Divorces should be a closed door. When it comes to communication with my ex-wife, less is more. We manage things so our kids are OK, but I’m not sure that talking regularly would be the best way to do it.
We need more personalities in sport. Tennis is a very personality-driven game. There has not been enough of that recently. People are starting to realise that we’d be better off letting players express themselves more rather than less.
It can be hard to stay positive. One of the difficult things after 9/11 and the global economic crisis is that this is the first time it feels like the generation before us may have been better off. That’s unsettling for us and we all have to work on our optimism.
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University fuels your ambition. When I was at Stanford University, I was surrounded by brilliant people who didn’t care about my tennis. They had their own ambitions. It was inspiring. It made me hungrier because I could tell I wasn’t impressing people a whole lot.
Children are an antidote to selfishness. That feeling you get from your kids when they need you to be a dad and tell it like it is and to be there for them unequivocally is incomparable. That was certainly not how I behaved before I had kids.
Real talent looks natural. Playing the guitar is a great hobby, but my wife says I wrestle it into submission. As she told me: “If you’re lucky enough to be good at one thing, you can’t expect the person up above to make you that good at two.”
I’m biased, but I think America is the greatest country in the world. We came upon a form of democracy back in the late 1700s that was new and was formed in a spectacular set of circumstances that allowed us to start from scratch. It is the best system I’ve seen.
When you’re young you take pride in not taking pride. It’s rare that you see kids all jazzed up. I take more care over my appearance now that I’m older. I like wearing a suit and tie when I’m commentating. It puts me in the mood to be professional.
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John McEnroe has collaborated on a limited edition line of underwear, Björn ♥ John, with Björn Borg, available now at Selfridges