John McEnroe talks about technology’s impact on tennis, plays guitar
John McEnroe joined the show to talk about the DIRECT Old School Challenge and more.
McEnroe was supposed to play Pete Sampras, and Sampras was going to use a wooden racket. But McEnroe injured himself and Ivan Lendl will fill in for him.
McEnroe said that today’s racket are 20 to 40 percent more powerful, and the strings have changed the spin on the ball. McEnroe said he hopes some of the old nuance comes back to the game.
Dan asked McEnroe if it ever helped him to “hate” the guy he was playing. McEnroe said emotion usually end up hurting him.
But sometimes anger got him fired up in a good way. “When I went on to the court against Connors we were like two bulls in a ring,” McEnroe said.
McEnroe said he would have fought Connors. And he would have taken on Lendl too, although McEnroe admitted he might now win that fight.
John picked up a guitar and played Norwegian Wood and Smells Like Teen Spirit on air. It was pretty awesome.