Today, ESPN tennis analysts John and Patrick McEnroe discussed the upcoming US Open on a media conference call. ESPN2 will televise 100 hours from New York starting Monday, Aug. 29, with other coverage across a variety of ESPN platforms, including ESPN3.com. Highlights from the call follow.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Venus Williams, because I’m covering the women’s portion for ESPNW. We’ve seen Serena step forward and reassert herself, but we haven’t seen that of Venus. I guess I’m wondering if we’re seeing the twilight here of her career?
PATRICK McENROE: I think we’re definitely seeing the twilight. That doesn’t mean that she can’t have a lot more success. But obviously, the biggest factor is her health. She hasn’t been able to get 100% healthy. Serena has obviously been able to get herself in great shape and spend a lot of time working out, and you can see that that’s paying off. For Venus, it’s probably been pretty tricky for her to do that in the last year and a half. But clearly, if she can, she can still be a factor. But at the moment, that’s a huge if.
JOHN McENROE: I’ll just add real quick I saw her in January. We played an event together in Hong Kong and even then she was sort of claiming to be saving it for Australia, not really going real hard, serving hard in the mixed doubles. I think she ended up pulling out in Australia and not playing at all at Wimbledon. The way it’s going, you can’t just at this stage this late be able to just step in and be able to do that. Not only is it difficult just from lack of match play but just to remain healthy for a whole event. She’s got to get out there more consistently, I think, at this point if she really wants to do something big or even have a chance of that.
Q. Could you both just run down sort of the obvious topic we always talk about is American men? I’m not so much talking about whether they can’t win or anything, but just give me your feelings on the top guys, how they’re doing and where they are?
JOHN McENROE: Well, Mardy’s obviously playing the best tennis of his life. He’s won of the top six, seven players in the world. The tough part for anyone that’s not at that elite level, there have to be two or three other guys if they’re actually going to win a major. To be able to do that is unbelievably difficult. To beat one of them is hard enough. To beat three of them potentially in a row would be mighty, mighty difficult. I think if Mardy can make a run, I mean, he seems to be in this great head space and obviously fitness‑wise. He’s in as good a position as he could possibly be in. He’s maxing out at least which is good to see. He’s fulfilling all the potential that people talked about.
The other guys are much more unknowns. I mean, Ryan Harrison to me has always been a guy that you know he’s going to be a Top 10, top 15 player, but can he get to that top elite game? That remains to be seen for me. But I like him for what he’s bringing to the table now, and he loves to be out there competing and he’s learning.
He’s going to get up there. It’s just how much is he going to develop his own sort of personality and game would be my question.
I’m not even sure if Sam’s playing, and Andy looks like he hasn’t played much matches. Isner’s the guy to me, I wish with the way he plays, I think that he’s not as dangerous as he could be because he’s chosen to play a style typical more or less of most of the other players. I think me, personally, I’d like to see him take more chances and be less, allow guys to get in a rhythm and even more of a headache to play against him than it already is. To me he gets stuck into too many rallies and that’s making it difficult for him now that he’s sort of taken a step back from when he was his high of 18 or 19, I think it was.
PATRICK McENROE: Obviously, I think Mardy’s put himself in a position where you can talk about him as a guy that could make a huge run in a major. As John said it’s obviously another level, but I think he’s at least in that conversation now as a guy if he gets a couple of breaks, he’s prepared to take advantage of an opportunity.
Roddick is a big question right now with his lack of match play. For me he’s still playing a little bit too defensively. I’d like to see him try to step in and cut the court off a little bit more and come forward a little bit more. But he’s pretty stubborn which is part of the reason he’s had a lot of success, but I think it could be getting in his way a little bit now.
I agree with John on both Harrison and Isner. I mean, I think Harrison got a lot of upside, he’s got a lot of swagger. He still can improve a lot in his game, and that’s a good thing because he’s winning matches pretty consistently now. The other question is how much will his game develop in the next year and a half, two years.
As far as Isner is concerned, I think he has made a few improvements. I’ve seen him play quite a few matches this summer, and I think he is looking to be at least more aggressive on the return. But I certainly concur with John that he’s got to play more big‑man tennis to really beat ‑‑ he’s not going to beat guys from outgrinding them from the back of the court. Hopefully we’ll see Querrey back. He’s supposed to play next week in North Carolina. He’s made a pretty good recovery from his surgery, so it would be nice to see him back out there.
Q. Patrick, I’m wondering what you see in Novak’s return of serve right now that makes him statistically speaking the best returner of serves in the men’s game?
PATRICK McENROE: Well, he’s got incredible flexibility, number one. I think that is probably the key. He’s very long, and he’s very limber. Even with two hands he’s able to full stretch and get something off the return on a big serve. Basically anything you serve at him or close to him, he doesn’t miss. He’s not quite as punishing as say Andre Agassi was on the return. But he’s a little more like Lleyton Hewitt was when Hewitt was in his prime. He gets his racquet on everything. He probably even does a little more damage than Hewitt does on second serves and balls that he can attack.
Q. Pat and John, do you buy into this situation that Americans are not watching tennis simply because there aren’t any American men out there? I mean the quality of play is phenomenal. I can’t really see that’s a valid reason.
JOHN McENROE: Well, I think there is some truth to that. We’ve been pretty successful over the years, so subsequently I’m sure a lot of our fans have gotten spoiled and are wondering why we’re not succeeding as much. I think it’s only natural. That’s why people have a rooting interests in teams. Would they watch the Cincinnati Bengals play the Seattle Seahawks if they’re in New York in the playoffs? A good portion of people would watch if they felt like these teams were good or the playoff teams or even the Patriots versus the Colts. But they would certainly prefer in the New York area if the Jets or the Giants were playing. I think it’s only natural in a worldwide game where there are things such as Davis Cup and the Olympics that people would want to feel and share in a tiny way the success of someone from America, and that just adds a little juice to it.
So to me the Major League Baseball and NBA have done a good job where a lot of the players are no longer Americans, and they still market the game better than we have, I believe, in terms of getting the fans to know the players better. But ultimately, I still think these fans in those sports still want to see Americans as well.
If it was all foreigners or all the top players, it would be more difficult. So this is why it’s people like both Patrick and myself, among others, that are trying to get something happening here in the States again and the buzz back to our sport and to get some champions again. I think it’s important for the game as well. America’s a huge market.
PATRICK McENROE: I would just add to that I think there are two different ways to look at it. Number one is you look at the attendance of the US Open, and it will just keep going up. It’s bigger and better every year, essentially. Where it does hurt is when the Americans aren’t playing in the final weekend or the final four or five days of the event. So I think obviously a Federer‑Nadal match is going to maybe spark the interest of sort of a casual fan. But if Serena Williams were playing, particularly when we had Agassi and Sampras, those are two Americans. When you have John and Jimmy, also two Americans, you know, Chrissy Evert and Martina. Martina became an American. We were pretty spoiled.
I think that obviously overall television numbers are down for every sport except the NFL. But there is no doubt that having the Americans in the final weekend of majors raises the ratings for television coverage.
Moderator: I would add that, yes, of course fans will grasp on to American stars more quickly. If there was an American Federer, who knows how that would rate. But we do quite well with the stars we have because the fans want to see greatness. They like charisma. They like flair and rivalries. So ratings do rise for certain matchups and players regardless of their nationality. It’s just a matter of the folks getting to know them, and that’s part of what we do at ESPN with profiles and so forth and trying to personalize the players.
Q. John and Patrick, I enjoyed the piece that was on last night with HBO’s Real Sports. I’m not sure it really resolved anything to explain why Americans have had their biggest drought. I know you have philosophies about how to bring Americans back. But it seems to be a Catch-22 aspect that it will be popular when an American wins, but we can’t get an American to win until it gets popular in the U.S. I wondered if you came away from that piece feeling like it was even more up in the air? I know John you mentioned it wasn’t sexy enough for kids. Is it hard to get kids involved in it when you show them there is all this hard work to do?
JOHN McENROE: I don’t think there’s any sport that I’m aware of where you don’t need a lot of hard work. But when you’re out there by yourself as often as you are and the amount of work it takes and the basics that have to be drilled into you not only from the physical part the stroke production, but the mental part of it, but you need to sort of give them things that would make them want to keep doing it.
I didn’t see the piece. But I don’t think Patrick and I are as far off as people make it out to be. I simply believe there should be different options provided for people. I’m going to provide that option here in New York. Patrick’s got a plan and the USTA and they’ve started to spread themselves out anyway. That was always the plan that was talked about to have some different centers where they could train, whether it’s California, Florida. Those are obvious. The less obvious would be New York or Chicago. But I think those options should be out there. I think that the fact that we’re all realizing maybe a little later than we’d like to, that we really need to be much more pro active in going after athletic kids as well as doing things to sort of make them as, and I meant, the sexy part, wanting to be out playing tennis more than some of the other sports is a big key for our success moving forward. But I think we can and I think we will be successful.
PATRICK McENROE: I agree. I did see the piece. I actually saw it this morning because I didn’t see it last night. But I felt that it was their message, and I forget your name, I’m sorry, who asked the question. But I thought that it was their message not ours that’s going it to take a superstar to create the buzz. Then how do you get the superstar without the buzz? I certainly don’t believe that. I don’t believe that John believes that.
I think we have plenty of kids that if we train them the right way and if they have the motivation and the cajones as John talks about, that we can get players to the top. At the same time, there is no doubt we need to do a better job across the board of what we’re doing. There is also no doubt to John’s point and what John’s focusing on a lot as well, is getting kids that traditionally don’t have the opportunity to play tennis, to play tennis. I think the whole 10 and under initiative that’s coming from the USTA, part of that is to try to get more kids that didn’t normally get the chance to play tennis. Get them interested in tennis and hopefully keep them in the game.
Q. I want to ask you about two young American players, Donald Young and Mitchell Frank. It looks like the USTA is about to give young a wildcard into open despite that Twitter outburst he had a few months ago. This is a guy who was a world junior number one, and he had a good showing here in Washington at the Legg Mason, but he hasn’t totally filled expectations to this point. He’s just turned 22. So I’m wondering what does he need to do to make it to the next level on the tour? Regarding Mitchell Frank, here’s a guy that’s going to be fighting for entry into the US Open in a tournament this weekend. Just wondering if he’s one of the guys we should keep our eyes on and one of the promising young Americans?
PATRICK McENROE: I’ll start with that. I think I started before and I’ll say it again. I think that Donald Young has a lot of potential. I think if he works even harder than he’s been working, which I think he’s done a better job of that, as we saw having a good tournament in Washington is a positive sign. He beat some quality players there. Even at 22 there is still time for him to take it to the next level physically. I think if he does that, I think he’s got a chance to be significantly higher.
Mitchell Frank is a great competitor. He’s going to go to college next year so I think that’s a good decision for him. But he’s had some success in the summer in the futures. Also got to the finals in Kalamazoo where he lost to Jack Sock. So he’s going to be one of the guys that’s pulling for a wildcard in the USTA playoff this week, and he’s a great kid, and he has a tremendous work ethic.
JOHN McENROE: Yeah, I go way back (with Donald Young) because my agent represented him for a while and told me I’ve got to play it with this guy because this guy’s going to be number one at ten years old. So I sort of saw this thing from afar and I watched him every year or so. And suddenly he’s 15 or so, and he’s number one junior in the world. I think that him and his family just expected it was going to happen, and I think it’s been a rude awakening. I think they made a lot of choices, I would think, that they wish they hadn’t, starting way back. Even when they were young they were worried about whether or not I was going to step in and step on their toes. I think from that point on I could see that they, A, didn’t get what they should be doing, or B, I feel like they just misjudged and had it wrong. I was only trying to be helpful because of what the relationship was with my agent and his and how I had just seen a young kid. It’s too bad. Obviously when you see someone like that there is no question even in the last three to five years the game has become much more physical. You’ve got to get yourself in tip‑top shape, which I haven’t seen him do.
But the good news, if there is good news, if you look at a guy like Mardy, for example, and some of the veteran players are doing better than ever. So if he’s able to somehow overcome some of the scar tissue that’s built up over the difficulties of the last five or six years, there is still a chance he could have an excellent pro career.
Q. John, as you and all of us know, emotion is really a key part of this great game we saw it at Wimbledon when Djokovic was really struggling, and then in the third round Baghdatis slammed his racquet a few times. You could argue that really helped him turn around the match. And Harrison is an exciting player, and he really slams his racquet a lot on court. Then the other night in Cinci we saw Andy get frustrated and hit a ball in the stands.
JOHN McENROE: God bless America. It still happens. It’s good to see.
Q. Anyway, my question is Yannick said the code of conduct is the worst thing that happened to to the game. People should be allowed to holler and throw racquets. But Becker said way too many rules, too politically correct. We should show emotion. Your thoughts on that? Should the code of conduct be loosened or should it be tossed out? What’s wrong with showing emotion?
JOHN McENROE: You’re not asking me that seriously, right?
Q. Johnny, we need it. You’re the man.
JOHN McENROE: That’s like you’re just feeding me to the blood in the water for sharks. You know the answer to that before you even asked.
Q. Hey, America is looking to you, John. We need to hear the truth. Preach.
JOHN McENROE: Well, I think that you’ve put it out there and you’ve mentioned some people that were emotional players. I think there is no question in our sport in a one‑on‑one game that people gravitate to players they can relate to on some level emotionally. That’s why I think the game is in an upswing, the men’s game in particular. You’re seeing guys show their personality, and the quality is improving and the athleticism. But as importantly is that you’re starting to see more emotion from a guy like Djokovic sort of back to the way he was. That’s becoming successful.
That was a dicey call. I felt that was a tight call when Andy got that one‑point penalty to lose his serve in the third. That’s where you wish that the guy would be. Because that’s sort of he was sort of melting down, but he sort of contributed to the meltdown and maybe that didn’t need to happen. I felt like that’s a tough one there.
But in general there is no doubt that ‑‑ I think they realized long ago when they tightened the rules for me and Connors, mainly, and a few other guys, that over the course of time they’ve squeezed it too much. I think they are trying to loosen things up. I think that is definitely something that they need to do. I noticed, for example, I’m trying to remember the match, but it was yesterday where one of the players ‑‑ it wasn’t a code of conduct thing. It’s when Djokovic, a ball fell out of his pocket during a point or a piece of tape. The guy said listen next time you’re going to get a point penalty, so he told him. If Djokovic had a little stuff hanging, he could double check that and not feel like he wasn’t told. So those are the type of things. Talking to the person and knowing the guy’s name and talking in that way, that would be quite helpful.
Q. But you think it’s really key to the game? I mean, that’s what makes tennis appealing is the feelings, the emotions.
JOHN McENROE: Yeah, I do, Of course. Is the Pope Catholic?
Q. How big of a favorite is Novak Djokovic in this tournament? Is he the overwhelming favorite in your eyes? And can you talk about the possibility of Rafa‑Federer semi which we haven’t seen here before? How much does that potentially hurt them and help Novak?
JOHN McENROE: I’ll say quickly, overwhelming? I wouldn’t necessarily say overwhelming. Obvious, yeah, no doubt about it. The guy’s playing amazing. He’s unbelievable. So there is no question about it that he’s a big favorite. When you have guys like Nadal defending the championship and Federer and Murray who I assume should be hungrier than ever and more desperate than ever the way things have been going, I can’t say overwhelming, especially with the pressure that he’ll be feeling, but certainly a big favorite.
I just want to see Nadal play Federer at the Open. So in a way, if it’s the semis, I’m good with that. That would mean whoever won that would be playing with a lot more confidence when and if they had to play Djokovic. But that’s always a dicey situation when you have to play two days in a row to see how that pans out who has a tougher semi.
PATRICK McENROE: I agree. I don’t think he’s an overwhelming favorite of all. You have two of the greatest players of all time who will be extremely motivated. For Federer it’s been a pretty disappointing year by his standards, so you know he’ll be motivated. And John’s point is most relevant to him as far as the semis or the finals. If he’s got to play Rafa and potentially Novak back‑to‑back at 30, that’s going to be really tough for him.
But Nadal will be extremely motivated, so he’s going to want to show that he can get back to number one. And if he wins the Open, he’s certainly got a case, depending on how the rest of the year goes to finish number one or at least be in the conversation. But what Djokovic has done this year has just been off the charts. To do what he’s done and win two majors, five straight masters events with Federer and Nadal right there, it’s pretty remarkable. Even saying that, he’s the favorite, but it’s definitely not overwhelming.
Q. Everybody talks about the state of American tennis and it’s usually in a negative way. Can you talk about encouraging signs that you see right now that things are headed in the right direction? And specifically can you talk about some young American women who are on the rise?
JOHN McENROE: I think that the fact that we’re starting to be much more pro active is a good sign. I think that people will inspire other people. The veterans will be inspired by Mardy. Ryan’s starting to get a little mojo. We’re starting to certainly like this ten and under thing, even though it sounds like it’s nothing, I think that’s going to be a big thing when little kids get to play on these smaller courts. I think it’s going to make the game much more accessible for kids to want to do it. So I think down the road we’ll get back on a roll, I just don’t know exactly when. I don’t see necessarily where we can put our hand on one guy right now or girl. Serena’s going to add some oomph because she seems to be getting back and making it in some majors. So we need to take advantage of this time and throw everything at what we’re trying to do which is get Americans to win majors again.
PATRICK McENROE: Yeah, I think we just saw a really good sign 20 minutes ago when Christina McHale beat Wozniacki. So step by step, and to the questioner’s point, we have some very good girls coming up. Do we have any lockdown guaranteed girls right now that you can say are going to win majors? I wouldn’t go there yet. But I think we’ll have a lot of young girls in the Top 100 pretty soon. I think we’ve got a lot of strength coming with the girls just behind them.
Then obviously you point to Ryan Harrison. He’s got potential. Jack Sock who won back‑to‑back Kalamazoos, and some other kids coming in after him. So I think there are signs. We’re seeing signs in what we’re doing with our program that slowly but surely we’re making some inroads and changing the culture of our kids and what it takes to become a professional.
Q. I have it on good authority from one of my colleagues that once upon a time you said 2011 US Open was possibly going to be Andy Murray’s best chance of a first slam. Do you still think that’s the case?
JOHN McENROE: Well, he’s pretty promising, but he hasn’t shown me at the moment. His best results have been in the majors. That’s the good news because that’s where fitness comes into play more. But he certainly doesn’t look right now like he’s ready to do it, but then again that may take some of the pressure off. Certainly the pressure is the greatest at Wimbledon for him. He made a surprisingly good run at the French. He hung in there. He laid an egg in Montreal. I don’t know what happened there. He didn’t show up, and we’ll see what happens here. But I think all the work he’s put in should pay off fitness‑wise, and some of it comes down to luck and draws. I would hope that he’d be hungrier and more desperate than ever to do it.
PATRICK McENROE: Yeah, clearly he’s not coming in with any of the same momentum as far as people talking about him winning it as he has in the last couple of years. I think John’s right, that may help him. He’s struggled in the big matches. To me he’s just basically frozen. He freezes up at the big moments. He’s played great players. It’s not even to me so much that he lost in the Aussie Open final or the US Open final, it’s the way he’s lost. He’s just basically given up in some of those matches. So you would hope that if he gets in that position again, he gives it everything he’s got.
Q. He seems to have done quite well at turning it on just at the majors this year, but can he keep doing that time after time?
JOHN McENROE: Well, that’s where the fitness pays off. It’s tougher to beat better guys in longer matches. Certainly at this stage he could use a little bit of confidence. There are still a couple of weeks. There is still this event. This is his best surface. I don’t know what’s going on. He was not there in Montreal. He’s had some majors that he’s been consistent. So I would hardly say what he’s done was ‑‑ the body language at Wimbledon was upsetting, because it seems to be almost like he wasn’t going to play, and then he kept playing. So his mind got in the way of things there. I don’t know how badly he was hurt. So I don’t know what the issue was. Certainly at the moment he needs to shake that off. It’s the same old story. He gets more negative than the other top guys out there and that’s costing him in some big situations.
Q. If you look back at this year, how do you think it would affect a player that he has to rule out himself for the fourth major this year, and how will this affect his play? And what do you think about the Hawkeye system?
JOHN McENROE: Well, the Hawkeye, that’s a question I’m asked a lot because obviously I’ve had had some issues with umpires. Would it have hurt me or help me is the unanswerable question. But it seems to be a hit with the fans and certainly allowed players to strategize and save energy at times ultimately you’d like to see a match decided by the players. So from that standpoint it’s good.
Q. How do you think it will affect the players that they have to rule out themselves for a fourth major this year?
JOHN McENROE: Well, they have to do that every year. So I it seems like it’s pretty much well decided barring an absolute meltdown by Djokovic, which no one sees happening, that he’s going to be the number one player. But I suppose if Nadal won this, he’d have two each. And if he had a horrible end of the year, and ‑‑ Djokovic that is ‑‑ and Nadal won the Masters, it’s still possible. There is still some meaning at least in Nadal that he can pull a rabbit out of the hat here. So that’s what make this is more interesting. Then obviously it’s historic to see if Novak can keep this up. Certainly people like the previously caller want to know if Murray’s going to finally get off and win a major. And people ask me every day, is Roger going to win another major? So there is interest out there. I think the men’s game is in good shape.
Q. Coming from Denmark, it will be no surprise to you that I’m going to ask you about Caroline Wozniacki. As your colleague mentioned before, she just lost to Christine McHale. Last week a match too. She used to be very consistent in below ranked players. She’s also been disappointing since Wimbledon and Paris. What do you think is happening to her right now and what do you think she needs to stable in order to win?
PATRICK McENROE: I think the worst thing that ever happened to her was getting to number one without winning a major. I think it just caught up to her, all the questions. Initially she tried to handle it and just sort of brush it off. It’s not her fault she got to number one it’s the system’s fault. So she won a lot of matches. She was very consistent. But the bottom line is that Serena is injured, Clistjers played here and there. So to me she was never the best player. But that doesn’t take anything away from the fact that she won a lot of matches and got to number one. But I think now it’s getting to her. She’ll probably be a lot more comfortable when she falls to five or six in the rankings. She’ll probably start winning more matches again.
JOHN McENROE: I just watched her play. I’m totally baffled as to what is going on. She looks like she has absolutely no confidence right now. Some of it obviously Patrick’s dead on about what he said about it put too much pressure on her being number one. And that clearly Clistjers had won some majors, just because she hadn’t played enough, she wasn’t ranked higher and Serena was hurt. So this put this unfortunate and undue pressure on her. Having said that, she’s playing so poorly and so tentatively that something’s going on that I’m not aware of that is causing her that she doesn’t seem to be focused in on what she’s doing right now.
Q. John, Patrick and Dave, the men’s finals are going to be on the tenth anniversary of 9/11, and there is also going to be a full slate of NFL and MLB games, and the US Open is going to honor the memory. Is it better to do what they’re doing honoring the memory and playing the game or should there be a day of no games?
JOHN McENROE: Well, that to me is I think one of the things that brought people together is when people started getting back on the field. Like the baseball game at Shea Stadium and the subsequent World Series and the Yankees and the effect that that had on bringing people together. The willingness of people to go out and be in a stadium again and show the people that we’re going to keep doing the things that we love to do. So for me, personally, just my opinion, certainly this was a monumental, catastrophic event. I was here that day, and no one’s ever going to forget it anywhere in the world. But I think that people are doing the right things to pay their respects, but they need to play the schedule the way it was meant to be played. That’s just my personal opinion.
PATRICK McENROE: I couldn’t agree more. I think that would be sending the wrong message if we didn’t do that. I think at the US Open they’re going to paint the 9/11 on the court, so it will be there for the final weekend. And I think everyone around the country, MLB or NFL, will do similar things. I think that will honor the memories of the people that lost their lives that day, more than not doing it.
Q. You want to chime in on this, Dave, for ESPN?
DAVE NAGLE: In terms of playing or not, I agree with both John and Patrick. We’ll have coverage of how sports treats the day on our various shows. Including we have a SportsCenter from the US Open that night at 10 p.m. But John was right that getting back to normal was part of the healing process and keeping what happened in mind is appropriate, but also moving forward with our lives, I would think.
Q. Maybe just a quick question about parents in tennis. Are they still a huge, bothersome thing in America and all over the world?
JOHN McENROE: Well, that’s obviously a major issue, even more so in the women’s game because a lot of it seems that a fair amount of the players, Wozniacki is an example of one, where the father’s coaching her. So one of the things that I see just starting ‑‑ I’ve just started my own academy a year ago and you see these parents that are way too involved. To me they’d be much better off in general if they were just their parents. Then they get involved in not only as their parents, they’re coaching, they’re part of the management team. It’s crazy. So I think this is an issue that certainly is ongoing, and it is problematic in a lot of cases. You can pick many, many cases where that’s become a problem. So hopefully parents will see that I think they’d be best off stepping away. Ironically, when everyone was like Richard Williams is crazy and he’s always out for himself, he did step back in a way. And I respect him for moving, to some extent, out of the spotlight.
PATRICK McENROE: How much time do we have? Because, you know fortunately or unfortunately, it’s not going to change based on my experience. But I agree with John. I think as Nick Bollettieri once told me you’ve got to deal with the parents. I think it’s happening everywhere, not just in tennis, but in a lot of sports. But clearly the list is too long that I could go down of parents that are too involved, not in their kid’s lives, but in their tennis. How this coach will work with them, and what are they doing to their forehand, specific stuff about tennis. Unfortunately, and as John just said on the women’s side, there are plenty of examples where these young ladies have actually done well. Whether it’s Bartoli, whether it’s Wozniacki, or Sharapova’s dad who was involved for a long time, but isn’t now so I think a lot of people see that and believe they can do it too.
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