John McEnroe would not stand for on-court rants if he coached Andy Murray
The Scot defeated Milos Raonic, who is coached by McEnroe, in Sunday's Aegon Championships final at Queen's Club
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Your support makes all the difference.John McEnroe says he would have found it difficult to tolerate some of Andy Murray’s past on-court rants directed at his entourage. Amelie Mauresmo hinted after her coaching relationship with Murray ended last month that the Scot’s on-court behaviour had been a factor in their parting, saying that he was a “complex” character who could be “the opposite on court to how he is off it”.
Asked how he would feel if a player shouted at him in the way that Murray has at some of his previous coaches, McEnroe said: “I don’t think I would be able to handle that for too long. It might be a very short relationship. I understand that he may think that’s how he ticks, or whatever it is. Some of it is understandable, but at other times it’s like: ‘Come on!’
“I understand how extremely frustrating it is, and I was guilty a couple of times - more than a couple of times. I am not going to pretend like I didn’t at times say four-letter words, something akin to what Murray says all the time, to my father.”
McEnroe, who is enjoying his own first taste of coaching a top player after joining Milos Raonic’s team, said that he could never remember Murray ranting in the direction of his entourage during Ivan Lendl’s first spell as his coach. Did he think it was significant that Murray had won his two Grand Slam titles with Lendl, who has now begun a second spell working with Murray?
“You be Sigmund Freud and you tell me,” McEnroe said. “It would seem that is not a total coincidence. But at the same time, it’s not just that. It’s this other guy, [Novak] Djokovic, and other situations. Otherwise he would easily have had more majors. And I don’t think he was yelling too much at Mauresmo either, as far as I could tell.”
McEnroe said he could see similarities between his own past on-court behaviour and Murray’s. “He’s much quieter and his energy is very different from mine, but that part of it is very similar,” McEnroe said.
“It’s probably the part that we’re not the most proud of. I’m sure that if he could take some of it back, he would. If they were going back and looking at tapes of every time he’s said a bad word, he would have passed me in the rankings by now. And personally I don’t think they should do that. I’m not here to say go study his tapes and see how many times he’s said a bad word.”
After having kids, it was like: ‘This doesn’t seem like this is really that good a thing. That’s not the type of example [to set].
McEnroe said there had been times in his own career when he wished officials had cracked down harder on his on-court behaviour. “I think there were occasions where it would have shaken me up,” he said. “Maybe it could have helped me down the road.”
However, the veteran American said that simply having a rant in the general direction of your entourage did not merit punishment. “If you yell at your box, I’m not really sure it’s something where it should be a penalty,” he said. “It seems like you hurt yourself.”
McEnroe agreed that what was important as a player was not to allow your on-court behaviour to divert your focus from the match you were playing.
He felt that his own behaviour had improved after he became a father. “After having kids, it was like: ‘This doesn’t seem like this is really that good a thing. That’s not the type of example [to set].’ It became clear in a way that it wasn’t helping my game. It was a bit like a cigarette smoker who couldn’t quit. You knew you should, but you couldn’t really do it.”
Besides, McEnroe also doubted whether Murray’s on-court behaviour had actually affected his results. “He’s still making these [Grand Slam] finals, knocking on the door,” he said.
McEnroe said that in playing in the same era as Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, Murray was having to compete against “arguably the three greatest guys who ever lived”.
He added: “There is no question that Andy has got a lot better. He has had to get better and he has probably made them better. He can take pride in that as somebody who is trying to have a great rivalry. It has been extremely difficult at times and frustrating. He has had better moments than almost anybody.
“There is always something you could say he could do something about. You could say: ‘Maybe his second serve could be a little better.’ But there have been times where it has been better and others where the reality is just that nerves or something else has got in the way a little bit.”
John McEnroe is part of the BBC’s Wimbledon line-up. Catch all the action across BBC TV, radio and online from 27 June.
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