Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal brought an enchanting spotlight to tennis. But you know, before them also, there were a lot of tennis players, including John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, and Andre Agassi, who made commendable contributions and displayed the beauty of tennis like no one else. Recently, Serena Williams’ former coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, opened up about how McEnroe dominated Federer and Nadal to show the real side of the sport.
While tennis is a game full of rivalry and friendship, every generation brought a different thing into this sport. Just like Federer and Nadal brought discipline into the tennis arena, McEnroe showed what real tennis emotions looked like.
“players experience different sensations during the same match” – Patrick Mouratoglou’s opinion about John McEnroe
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Recently, the French tennis coach, in an interview with the Italian outlet, talked about the younger generations coming into the sport and what kind of emotions tennis conveys to them, looking to the other past generations. To answer this question, a 53-year-old tennis coach talked about how there are different players who experience different kinds of sensations on and off the tennis court.
Along with that, he also highlighted how the seven-time Grand Slam champion was someone who expressed the beauty of tennis in the most amazing manner, even better than two of the most popular faces, Federer and Nadal. Not only that, he further highlighted how the American tennis player never shied away from expressing himself on the court, that is, with rage expressions and open conversations, whereas the other two always controlled their emotions and kept a different front on the court.
He stated, “Many. Also because the players experience different sensations during the same match and the public feels it. All this is very beautiful. Let’s take McEnroe, one of the biggest stars, or Safin, who was much loved. I’m not talking about Roger and Rafa, they are the greatest of all time, and they are different. But the beauty of tennis is to convey emotions.”
Further, he also highlighted how, as a coach himself, he likes those players who are quite vocal about their thoughts and prefer to convey who they are and themselves on the court. But at the same time, a few months ago, the seven-time Grand Slam champion opened up about going against both of them while listing his ‘dream’ and ‘nightmare’ against the two.
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McEnroe’s thoughts on going against Nadal-Federer
The 53-year-old American tennis icon provided insight into his fictitious battles with two tennis icons in a recent podcast. McEnroe described meeting the 42-year-old icon Roger Federer in his heyday during a big event, notably at Wimbledon, as a “dream” scenario. But at the same time, he acknowledged being apprehensive about playing Rafael Nadal, especially in the French Open, calling it a “nightmare” situation.
He stated, “The dream would be to play Roger at Wimbledon, and the nightmare would be to play Rafa at Roland Garros on clay, even though I grew up on clay and that was my best surface until I turned pro. But what Rafa did was insane.” Not only that, the statement clarifies McEnroe’s game plan and appreciation of the distinct difficulties presented by various opponents in various fields.
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Nevertheless, what are your thoughts on the Patrick Mouratoglou revelation regarding McEnroe? Let us know in the comment section below.
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