‘Probably Be Cow Dung’- ‘Superbrat’ John McEnroe Once Stirred Up a Controversy in His Debut Stint as USA Davis Cup Captain

The controversies around John McEnroe are numerous. American player with an aggressive attitude on the court and who weighed little before speaking made stirred quite a few squabbles. One such incident was when John McEnroe was to lead the United States’ team for the Davis Cup.

The player made some offensive remarks against the country that they were drawn to play, which was Zimbabwe.

John McEnroe faced backlash for his statement on Zimbabwe

Davis Cup team of the US was led by the seven-time grand slam champion John McEnroe in 2000. The American player made comments on the type of court Zimbabwe would prefer to play on. He was worried that his players would draw out from the tour once they get to know which country they will have to go to play.

He said, “They are going to pick a surface that they feel they have the best chance of beating us on, which will probably be cow dung.”

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This comment stirred up a controversy and a rebuttal from Zimbabwe’s authorities. They said, “When we beat Australia last year, we didn’t play on a cow dung court.” 

How did America perform in Davis Cup 2000?

Pete Sampras was to be on the team however, due to his injury he could not. McEnroe flew to Zimbabwe with Andre Agassi, Chris Woodruff, Alex O’Brien, and Rick Leach. The American team struggled hard to defeat the Zimbabwe team. However, it still managed to win but only by a small margin on the inside hard court in Zimbabwe.

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The US had to wait for the Davis Cup to come home until 2007 when the team was led by Andy Roddick and James Blake. John McEnroe is not the only player who has been targeted for his on and off-court statements.

In the contemporary situation, we have Nick Kyrgios who despite being a rising tennis sensation has come to the spotlight because of his on-court aggression. Tennis is a sport that eventually brings out the raw emotions of a player on the court.