Patrick McEnroe: The Tennis-X Interview - Part I

Posted on April 29, 2005

By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer

While Patrick McEnroe was eclipsed in his playing days by legendary older brother John, it is off the court that the younger McEnroe has thrived, developing into one of the most influential voices in American tennis between his broadcasting duties and captaining the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Tennis-X caught up with "P-Mac," as he is affectionately known by Davis Cup charges Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, James Blake, Taylor Dent and Robby Ginepri, to hear who is ready to step up among his "B"-squad of players to help out Roddick, how the slams are making the ATP nervous, why the Davis Cup format isn't working, and whether ESPN is getting their tennis broadcasting act together:

Tennis-X: Women's tennis is thriving right now -- what does the ATP need to do to keep up with the women, in terms of marketing in the U.S. and abroad?

Patrick McEnroe: I really think it's the wrong question and I'll tell you why. I don't think the ATP can do a whole lot more than they're doing. They just don't have the resources that the slams do. The slams are the ones that are making money. I think what the USTA has done with (Arlen) Kantarian (USTA Chief Executive, Professional Tennis) leading the charge with the US Open Series has been a very positive step, and using the weight of the slams to market the rest of the tour. The bottom line is obviously stars sell the sport, and in this country more than any other country. Unfortunately for us it seems we have to have American stars as well. So we're in a tricky situation in that without Americans at the top-top of the game, I don't care how good your marketing campaign is, you're going to struggle.

X: Do you think the ATP needs to do more partnering, because from the sound of it the USTA kind of went out on their own (with the US Open Series)?

P-Mac: Well I think everyone needs to do more partnering -- obviously the ATP feels threatened by the USTA and the slams, and if the slams wanted to do more, they could basically take over the sport. I don't think any of them have wanted to do that, other than recent steps by the USTA -- they just want to be more involved. I think that's good for the pro game. The USTA has a lot of money, they have a lot of money where they're supposed to grow the game, etcetera, and I believe the healthier the professional game is, the healthier it will be for recreational players, for overall interest in the sport. I think there's some (people) at the USTA that don't believe that and are extremely short-sighted.

X: Andy Roddick has been a bit of your protege, you've helped him come up in the game -- he's been dumped by Reebok and picked up by Lacoste, do you see him coming out with anything out of the ordinary at the French, or do you think he's going to wear something in line with the conservative French players?

P-Mac: (Laughing) I have no idea, fashion is not my expertise, but I'm more concerned with Andy Roddick developing his game than his wardrobe. I think he's working hard at that, he's an intense guy, he's hardworking and he wants to maximize his potential, that's what I'm concerned about. I'm not particularly concerned with what his outfit will be, I doubt he'll be wearing the (Arnaud) Clement sunglasses though.

X: What's the update on someone stepping up to consistently fill the No. 2 singles spot on your Davis Cup squad, have you been impressed thus far by anyone this year?

P-Mac: Well I think theres a lot of work to be done there Richard, let's be honest. The results speak for themselves, and my job is to be a frontrunner in picking who our best guy available is. Obviously at the moment other than Andre, I don't know, I haven't spoken to him yet whether or not he'll play in Septmeber or where he'll be next year, but if he doesn't play we'll be in the same situation, which is we've got guys who have game who I think haven't lived up to all their potential out there. Taylor Dent has been the best player so far, he's clearly had the best results and he's beaten four players in the Top 10, so he's clearly proven he can beat the best players. What he's yet to prove is that he can play well, very well in a grand slam, which is best-of-five -- and last time I checked, Davis Cup was best-of-five, so...you have to take all that into consideration. Certainly the (team) result in March was very disappointing and I've had a lot of tough days thinking about it but we'll try to regroup and be ready. I mean when you have Andy Roddick and the Bryan brothers you have a pretty good start there obviously. I don't think that -- down the road we're in pretty good shape, but it would be nice if one of the younger guys stepped up, whether it's James Blake -- you see some flashes from him but he hasn't had the consistency in his career yet, he had a tough year last year -- we'll see, the jury's out, the jury is still out.

X: I want to run a couple of the top players who have skipped Davis Cup by you and hear your opinion on the effect on their year...

P-Mac: Well to me Richard I'd rather do it as a group. I think that, to me it should be a signal to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) that there's something wrong with Davis Cup. As good as it is, and I've seen the best part of Davis Cup in some of our home matches recently, particularly our match in Spain and our match in France a couple years ago, the interest level and the excitement level over there is phenomenal. At the same time, you have individuals like (Roger) Federer, Moya, (Tim) Henman, and Agassi who didn't play for five years, to me that's gotta be a signal that this is not right. The Davis Cup is such a great event, it should have a bigger profile in the game and on the tour. There should be no doubt that the best players play, it should be like a grand slam. Unless you're seriously injured, you're going to show up and you're going to play. The way the Davis Cup is set up right now, it's impossible for that to happen. So I'm not going to go after each of those guys, because each of those guys are very thoughtful and professional and are individuals, you cannot say they don't care about Davis Cup, they don't care about representing their countries, you just can't say that about them. So I think it's more of a scheduling problem and I'd like to see the Davis Cup format changed, maybe it's every other year but it's a season that's played out over a two-week time period, and whether you go to four or eight teams in the last round of it, it should be in one place and you should play for the Davis Cup over that 10-day or two-week period.

X: We hear you have a pretty voracious surfing appetite when it comes to tennis on the web?

P-Mac: I love Tennis-X, you guys are great, I can't remember who turned me on to you guys, but I try to keep in touch with everything that's going on, I just wish we could get that kind of coverage in the mainstream press. When people criticize me as they often do about the Davis Cup and commentating and etcetera, I always sort of say to myself 'Now I've arrived! If we could only get this in the mainstream press!' -- and make tennis that much more of a happening, I think it would be great for the sport.

X: Since you keep up with the tennis media, and you realize the broadcasts and media coverage drive the popularity of tennis, what do you think is being done well out there, and what do you think could be improved with the media and tennis?

P-Mac: Well I think that first of all I have to say, and I've criticized my own employers at ESPN in the past for certain production or certain programming decisions, I think we all know what those problems are. I think they've sort of gotten the message. I think the Australian Open (coverage) was the result of ESPN making a lot of good decisions, and the bottom line is that we in the tennis world shouldn't necessarily bite the hand that feeds us. ESPN is covering an incredible amount of tennis, they're putting on way more hours than anyone else, and they're committed to tennis. Mark Shapiro, who's the head of programming at ESPN, is a huge tennis fan, and is very supportive of the game. Look, obviously they're going to show the American stars, when the American stars are playing in an important match. They do that in any country. We sort of have this impression that in other countries they show 'The Game' in how it should really be presented -- they all show their stars. I think ESPN did a very good job at the Australian of...showing the Roddicks obviously and the Williams sisters, etcetera, but they're also showing great tennis. There's obviously that fine line, Richard, between catering to the tennis fan and then catering to the sports fan, and the sports fan might not be into (Gaston) Gaudio vs. (Guillermo) Coria at 4-all in the fifth. I am, but when you're talking about getting more eyeballs to watch the television sets, that is what ESPN is trying to do. They're trying to get more people watching tennis, so I think we should thank them for doing that, while at the same time saying 'hey' -- you know sometimes I get just as frustrated as all of you do about some of the decisions, but overall, ESPN has put their money where their mouth is, they're committed to tennis.

Next in Part II of our interview with Patrick McEnroe: Second-guessing the "Dream Team" of Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi losing in the first round of Davis Cup play earlier this year to Croatia.