Two ways to a new golden age: cherish the seniors and give me control of the game

John McEnroe interview: Tennis' gifted one plans to hold court for a while longer – and still has grand ambitions. Ronald Atkin meets him

The Royal Albert Hall proudly presents the king next week. We are talking tennis here, it should be stressed, since the grand old edifice has offered a few five-star operators in its time. But for the Honda Challenge seniors tournament, beginning on Wednesday, all the promotional drum-banging has prominently featured the face of John McEnroe, the man who once was king, the man who would be king forever.

Despite the presence in what is arguably the best-ever field for this eight-man event of other former Wimbledon champions such as Boris Becker, Pat Cash and Michael Stich and Grand Slam winners of the calibre of Mats Wilander and Petr Korda, McEnroe's is the name people still look for when they ponder the purchase of a ticket or the commitment of an evening. At 43, Johnny Mac is still pulling 'em in with that unique combination: tennis of breathtaking purity, allied to a magnetic personality that all would-be imitators have long ago given up on copying.

In competitive tennis terms, 43 is a distinguished senior citizenship, an age that should be offering a congratulatory pat on the back and a gentle prod in the direction of the sidelines or an administrative role. After all, we are not talking golf here, where senior life begins at 50 for the simple reason, frequently pointed out by McEnroe himself, that tennis players have to run for a living and golfers don't. Yet here the man is, two months shy of his 44th birthday, talking about winning the Honda title for a fourth time against opponents who are eight or nine years younger.

"Sure I can win again," said McEnroe as we shared a drink at a hotel bar during the recent Monte Carlo seniors' event (where he would lose in the final to Korda). "I have put in the time ready to be able to play and if I continue to perform the way I have been doing, I believe I should win, although this is the best field we have ever had for the Albert Hall. It's going to be a challenge, but I have put myself in a position where I have as good a chance as ever, despite the fact that you have to win five matches in five days. That's not easy as you get older. You run a risk if your first match is on Wednesday and you still want to be playing your best by the semi-finals and final on Saturday and Sunday. It's hard at this age to play your best five days in a row, more demanding than people realise."

It is harder, too, to combat the young 'uns who have turned to the seniors' tour when the court surfaces favour the big servers. After winning at the Albert Hall from 1997-99, McEnroe was beaten in the 2000 final by Cash and found himself unable to cope with the serving of Guy Forget in last year's semi-finals, to his clear and audible frustration and outrage, on a lightning fast carpet. "Winning again would be more difficult on a court like last year's," he said. "I would have a better chance on a slower court." The good news for McEnroe is that the organisers promise a completely new court, "definitely slower".

McEnroe sees himself carrying on for "a year or two, if there is motivation" and added: "I have more motivation now because I see the competition getting tougher, whether it's Becker or Korda or Stefan Edberg, if he joined. I envision wanting to hang around to see what I have for another year at least because I believe I still have it."

There is another reason for sticking around, as he revealed. "When you have gotten a lot from something, you want to leave it in good shape for the next age group. And I feel frustrated because I don't sense that." Since Jimmy Connors founded the seniors' tour some 10 years ago to tide him over the run-in to middle age, it has been largely carried, first by Connors and, then by McEnroe's formidable support and commitment. "It's on my shoulders these days," McEnroe acknowledged. "But I can't do it alone, the way Jimmy did. He did a great job starting all this, but times are different now.

"When you go to the same place five times in a row it wears out its welcome in a sense. I don't care how good it is, it requires the next group and real rivals. Bjorn [Borg] and Jimmy were my two obvious ones." What McEnroe clearly sees as the next crowd-puller is a renewal of the Wimbledon rivalry between Becker and Edberg. Becker is finally aboard, although his eagerly anticipated Albert Hall debut last December turned to farce when he pulled out citing injury after just one match. If Becker is renowned for carrying the tennis version of Darren Anderton's sick note, it is Edberg who is currently spoiling the McEnroe vision of The Next Great Rivalry by consistently declining to become involved in the senior game.

"The next group, whoever they are, have to step up and make themselves available, that's the only way the seniors tour is going to succeed. I am around for another year or so and I can be a formidable opponent, but if they want it to go on they need to think about a new generation. If they have any hope of even thinking about the Andre Agassis of this world, who you can't imagine playing seniors tennis at 35, they are going to have to really reach out. Otherwise I don't believe it will be around."

Which would be a pity in the opinion of McEnroe, and many others, particularly in view of the on-going success of this week's London event, which is well run, well supported and staged at a stunning venue. "It's our best event," is McEnroe's succinct summation. It should, without doubt, provide the climax of the seniors' year, but that has never somehow worked out. "I was always hoping the Albert Hall would be our year-end Masters," he said. "I felt that would be perfect. Plus it's our best event. But just like the regular professional tour, politics somehow got in the way so something that would make total sense doesn't take place. Ultimately, it hurts the tour itself when you don't make the sensible decision.

"The tour used to end at Naples, Florida, in March, then it was moved to Central Park in New York in June 2000. Last year, unfortunately, they moved it to September in New York and 9/11 took place, so now there is no year-end event. So we have gone in a sense from bad to worse. Now no one knows if there is an end to it, or a beginning for that matter. It's all up in the air, and ultimately that's going to lead to less success."

In the wake of the Twin Towers, the seniors circuit did not get back on track until the end of the year in Europe. Naturally, McEnroe can see a way or two forward. "If you combined big events like London with smaller ones such as Eindhoven there could be a circuit of 15 to 20 events. Then you would have a circuit that made sense. As little as 10 would be the minimum. If they can play 10 or 12 that's realistic. I can see myself handling that pretty easily."

There have also been suggestions that the seniors should play their events within the Grand Slams and other events in the Masters Series of the ATP Tour. "To me that would make total sense," he said. "We could make a contribution. I feel the seniors has a place in the game. The analogy I make is this: when I was a kid my mom always used to make me chocolate cakes. I loved cakes. But I noticed that a cake with icing on it was better than one without it. We are like the icing on the cake, we add that little flavour that makes it better."

The seniors offers a combination of competition and fun, much of the fun coming from the antics of Mansour Bahrami, who catches balls in his pocket, serves with six balls in the other hand and rallies while perched in a linesman's chair. "I know all Mansour's routines by heart now but it is still funny and people still come back," said. McEnroe. "Yannick [Noah] can play serious but he can also do the other thing.

"As a matter of fact I look at myself and try to do a bit of that now, because I didn't do it when I was on the main tour. Connors, he entertained even when he played the US Open. Even though he was serious he could still crack a joke. That's one thing I wish I could have done more than anything, to try as hard as Jimmy but also to look at it in a different way and still not lose my concentration.

"Losing concentration was the reason I didn't do it. Even now, when I do something I think is terribly funny I feel like I lose it for a couple of points, my intensity level drops. I played Yannick in Eindhoven [in October] and he started doing this schtick. But he was also playing well and it threw me. I wasn't playing my best and it turned out to be an extremely close and entertaining match, which I won in a tiebreaker in the third." Noah's good- natured gripe about McEnroe, on the other hand, is that he is a friend off court but a deadly and merciless rival on it.

McEnroe considers that it was against one of his keenest rivals, Connors, that he played in his best match on the seniors tour, even though he lost. It happened in Irving, Texas, exactly four years ago. Connors, then 46, was miffed when McEnroe joined in the joshing of his attitude by a spectator. "Be fair, Connors," yelled the man. "Yeah, be fair, Connors," added McEnroe. At which Jimmy stalked off, was persuaded to return and won the match. You begin to see what McEnroe means about being affected by loss of concentration.

Of course, McEnroe played many great matches with Connors on the regular tour, an era that McEnroe relishes. "Maybe we are getting old, but it just feels like it was the best time, it was incredible to be part of it. There was an intensity, something about it. You are aware at the time it is exciting, but you become more aware in a sense when people come up to you afterwards and talk about it, as they do now.

"When you look back it was like the front pages of sport. You felt you were doing something for sport while being a part of it. Now I feel more appreciative, I get to enjoy the fruits, still get to play events like the Albert Hall. And given the right circumstances I could play even better, I really could. Potentially, I could play really well for two sets."

Although seeing his autobiography soar to number one on the New York Times bestseller list provided one of his best-ever moments, McEnroe's energies and arguments remain focused on how to improve the game he loves. He does not see why experiments should not be made, such as reducing the size of the service box – "force people to place the ball better and take away the domination of speed, particularly at Wimbledon. I hope to be part of a renaissance, whether it's by having a tennis academy or doing TV commentaries".

One positive move, in the McEnroe book, would be for him to become the Commissioner of Tennis, the way baseball and American football have commissioners. "A commissioner is exactly what the sport needs," he said. Why not? Commissioner McEnroe, the man who would be king forever, could at least ensure lively debate, and probably much more besides.

Biography: John Patrick McEnroe

Born: 16 February 1959 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Lives: New York. Marital status: married to Patty Smyth; lives with six children (three from first marriage to Tatum O'Neill, two from Smyth, who also has one from previous marriage).

Playing career: Turned professional in 1977. Won Wimbledon men's singles three times (1981, '83, '84), US Open four times (1979, '80, '81, '84). Earned $12,539,622 in prize money, amassing 77 singles and 77 doubles titles.

That mouth: Frequent brushes with officialdom; in 1990 was defaulted from the Australian Open.

These days: Appears on the Seniors Tour, and is also a respected TV analyst.