John McEnroe is a coach and who knows those words will light up this year’s Wimbledon. It still has a slightly askew ring to it: John McEnroe, tennis coach. Superbrat turns — in the expectations of his charge Milos Raonic at least — Supercoach?
Yet why should it feel this way? McEnroe is decades removed from those brattiest days, when the idea that he could have anything to teach to anyone other than a new swear word was as preposterous as the idea of smart phones.
Back then he made his thoughts on hiring a coach, or a kind of assistant, pretty clear. He was one of the few players who did not travel with an entourage and, when asked whether he would benefit from one, he said: “Boy is that the easy way out. You put all the problems on him.”
For fewer decades he has been an engaging and wry presence on TV screens as a commentator. His opinions, his thoughts and analysis still command space — a McEnroe assessment of a player’s chances is still to be taken seriously. But all this still places him on the game’s periphery, not in the grinder itself.
To jump back in now? It makes sense in the way it does that a bunch of former players have taken to coaching. Like Boris Becker, Ivan Lendl and Stefan Edberg, McEnroe is an unquestioned giant — sure he can bring some advantage to Raonic, right?
It makes less sense that he has dipped his toes — and it is not yet a headlong dive — so long after his active, professional career. He retired from the professional circuit 24 years ago. It has been so long that last year, he said he was even considering retiring from the seniors tour which he has so helped popularise, a retirement twice over.
It has been so long that a weird, brief stint he had as Becker’s coach in 1993 does not even count anymore as experience. And Raonic will hope it is not instructive: “He never listened to a word I said,” McEnroe said of it recently.
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But what we should by now know about McEnroe is that we cannot presume to really know about McEnroe. He was, and never has been, what he was made out to be. Even at his peak, he was always much more than just the tantrum-throwing tennis superstar with a villainously curly head of hair.
He was a particular kind of New Yorker, from a particular time and place in that city’s history when it was not the capital of the world, but just a big, boisterous, messy and dangerous city trying to deal with its unapologetic urbanity.
McEnroe was a curious blend: a child of privilege, educated at private schools, but also street-savvy, educated by his long commutes on the city’s subway when he went to practice tennis.
That blend, even more curiously, was evident in one of his greatest, most-cited meltdowns on court, the infamous first-round match of Wimbledon, 1981. “You can’t be serious man,” he yelled at the umpire Edward James, before constructing the expression of his rage more formally: “You cannot be serious!
“That ball was on the line, chalk flew up. It was clearly in. How can you possibly call that out? You guys are the absolute the pits of the world you know that?”
McEnroe was not averse to turning the air blue, but there was, as the tennis writer Stephen Tignor noted, a “poetic quality” about some of his outbursts as well. So much so that at times, McEnroe felt like an autobiographical rendering from the mind of another intrinsic New Yorker, Larry David. The Curb Your Enthusiasm episode in which McEnroe guest stars — and has a meltdown in — was perhaps just such a nod.
Who can say how this will go? It could get awkward, given that McEnroe will mix coaching with his TV assignments and could conceivably end up calling some Raonic matches.
Will he ask Raonic to blow a little hotter on court, to occasionally release the tensions that inhabit all elite athletes in competition? Could McEnroe provide fresh insight into the old, dying discipline of serve-and-volley, which Raonic is favourable to and wants to build upon this year?
Maybe McEnroe ends up benefiting Raonic outside the court. Raonic is an art connoisseur, as is McEnroe, and Raonic spoke, almost in awe, of McEnroe sharing a New York era with men such as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michael Basquiat. They share other non-tennis but highbrow New York connections too.
However it does go, however long it lasts, best not to miss even a second of it.
osamiuddin@thenational.ae
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
It
Director: Andres Muschietti
Starring: Bill Skarsgard, Jaeden Lieberher, Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jeremy Ray Taylor
Three stars
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
F1 2020 calendar
March 15 - Australia, Melbourne; March 22 - Bahrain, Sakhir; April 5 - Vietnam, Hanoi; April 19 - China, Shanghai; May 3 - Netherlands, Zandvoort; May 20 - Spain, Barcelona; May 24 - Monaco, Monaco; June 7 - Azerbaijan, Baku; June 14 - Canada, Montreal; June 28 - France, Le Castellet; July 5 - Austria, Spielberg; July 19 - Great Britain, Silverstone; August 2 - Hungary, Budapest; August 30 - Belgium, Spa; September 6 - Italy, Monza; September 20 - Singapore, Singapore; September 27 - Russia, Sochi; October 11 - Japan, Suzuka; October 25 - United States, Austin; November 1 - Mexico City, Mexico City; November 15 - Brazil, Sao Paulo; November 29 - Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Fuel economy, combined: 6.4L/100km
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Tips to stay safe during hot weather
- Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
- Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
- Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
- Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
- Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
- Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
- Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Cricket World Cup League 2
UAE squad
Rahul Chopra (captain), Aayan Afzal Khan, Ali Naseer, Aryansh Sharma, Basil Hameed, Dhruv Parashar, Junaid Siddique, Muhammad Farooq, Muhammad Jawadullah, Muhammad Waseem, Omid Rahman, Rahul Bhatia, Tanish Suri, Vishnu Sukumaran, Vriitya Aravind
Fixtures
Friday, November 1 – Oman v UAE
Sunday, November 3 – UAE v Netherlands
Thursday, November 7 – UAE v Oman
Saturday, November 9 – Netherlands v UAE
Suggested picnic spots
Abu Dhabi
Umm Al Emarat Park
Yas Gateway Park
Delma Park
Al Bateen beach
Saadiyaat beach
The Corniche
Zayed Sports City
Dubai
Kite Beach
Zabeel Park
Al Nahda Pond Park
Mushrif Park
Safa Park
Al Mamzar Beach Park
Al Qudrah Lakes
Sukuk
An Islamic bond structured in a way to generate returns without violating Sharia strictures on prohibition of interest.
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Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg
Rating: 4/5
Specs
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Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.