His prominent younger opponents included Björn Borg, Vitas Gerulaitis, Ivan Lendl, and John McEnroe.

The other male players in the open era with winning percentages over 80 are Björn Borg ( 89. 8 ), Rafael Nadal ( 87. 6 ), Roger Federer ( 87. 4 ), Pete Sampras ( 84. 2 ), Jimmy Connors ( 82. 6 ), Ivan Lendl ( 81. 9 ), John McEnroe ( 81. 5 ), Novak Djokovic ( 81. 1 ) and Andre Agassi ( 80. 9 ).

And despite his relatively advanced age, his win-loss percentage during the open era was around 80 % for singles, which places him seventh on the open era list behind Björn Borg, Rafael Nadal, Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Roger Federer but ahead of Pete Sampras.

Laver ranked first on this list ahead of John McEnroe, Don Budge, Kramer, Björn Borg, Gonzales, Tilden, Jimmy Connors, Fred Perry, and Lew Hoad.

In a poll by the Associated Press in 2000, Laver was voted " The Male Tennis Player of the Century ", ahead of Pete Sampras, Tilden, Borg, Budge, McEnroe and Hoad ( tied ), Rosewall and Roy Emerson ( tied ), and Kramer.

Laver topped his list ahead of Tilden and Borg ( tied ), Roger Federer, Gonzales, Rosewall, Budge, Ivan Lendl, Connors, Sampras, McEnroe, and Kramer.

At Wimbledon, McEnroe reached the 1980 Wimbledon Men's Singles final — his first final at Wimbledon — where he faced Björn Borg, who was gunning for his fifth consecutive Wimbledon title.

McEnroe exacted revenge two months later, beating Borg in the five-set final of the 1980 US Open.

However, despite the controversy and merciless criticism from the British press ( Ian Barnes of the Daily Express nicknamed him " SuperBrat "), McEnroe again made the Wimbledon men's singles final against Borg.

Borg and McEnroe had their final confrontation in the final of the 1981 US Open.

Also in the garden is a small summerhouse attributed to William Kent ( circa 1740 ), a helicopter launching pad, and a tennis court where Björn Borg, John McEnroe and Steffi Graf have played.

Many top tennis players have participated in the league over the years, including: Billie Jean King, Rod Laver, Björn Borg, Chris Evert, John McEnroe, Evonne Goolagong, Jimmy Connors, Martina Navratilova, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Lindsay Davenport and Kim Clijsters.

Certainly the theory worked for Tilden for many years ; and some of the best matches of all time have pitted great baseliners such as Björn Borg or Andre Agassi against great serve-and-volleyers such as Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe or Pat Rafter.

Some of the best matches of all time have pitted great baseliners such as Björn Borg, Mats Wilander or Andre Agassi against great serve-and-volleyers such as John McEnroe, Stefan Edberg or Pete Sampras.

Brava's televised performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in the middle of the 1st ATP Masters tournament between Björn Borg and John McEnroe made also headlines, and the picture of her in a tiny black, figure-hugging lycra outfit and red faux fur moon boots was prominently featured in the papers the following days.

Kriek ’ s most memorable wins include victories over Andre Agassi, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe, and Björn Borg.

* 1981 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles: After losing the first set, 4-6, to Björn Borg, John McEnroe won the finals with three straight sets ( 7-6, 7-6 and 6-4 ), but not without outraging his hosts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club by his outbursts against the officials.

Many observers noted that despite his lengthy layoff from competitive tournaments, Sampras still possessed many of the previous skills he had displayed while on the ATP tour, with tennis legend John McEnroe going as far as to say that Sampras would be worthy of a top five seeding at Wimbledon were he to enter the tournament.

Unbeknownst to me, however, the BBC were experiencing a broadcasting fault and so had stuck in a tape of last year's final, when McEnroe also beat Connors.

Many other guest hosts were used in the past, including David Aldridge, Skip Bayless, Jay Bilas, Norman Chad, Mike Golic, Sally Jenkins, Max Kellerman, Tim Kurkjian, Patrick McEnroe, Bill Plaschke, Rick Reilly, T. J. Simers, Dan Shaughnessy, Michael Smith, Stephen A. Smith, Michele Tafoya, Mike Tirico, Bob Valvano, and Ralph Wiley of ESPN and sportswriters Jason Whitlock of The Kansas City Star and David Dupree and Jon Saraceno of USA Today.

Its last champions were Jim Grabb and Patrick McEnroe, who beat John Fitzgerald and Anders Järryd 7 – 5, 7 – 6, 5 – 7, 6 – 3.

Arguably the greatest half-volleyer in history is John McEnroe ; other professionals such as Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras had excellent half volleys that were used as weapons.

In the 1980s, many great players such as Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl, Henrik Sundström and John McEnroe were leading the charge with their one handed versatile backhands.

The titles were split between Ivan Lendl and John McEnroe, winning two each.

During the Wimbledon tournaments of 2005, 2006, and 2007, Connors commentated for the BBC alongside John McEnroe ( among others ), providing moments of heated discussion between two former archrivals.

Because ratings are based on samples, it is possible for shows to get 0. 0 rating, despite having an audience ; the CNBC talk show McEnroe was one notable example.

Tennis experts cite her mental toughness, the completeness and variety of her game, her footspeed and footwork, and her one-handed backhand ( which John McEnroe has described as the best single-handed backhand in the women's or men's game ) as the principal reasons for her success.

In the third set Lendl started using lobs, forcing McEnroe to distance himself from the net to prepare for the lobs.

They also both are now often commentators for Grand Slam tennis television coverage in the United States, and John McEnroe is also a commentator on Wimbledon for the BBC.

McEnroe also commentated Olympic tennis during the London Olympics for NBC.

McEnroe won 10 singles and 17 doubles titles that year ( for a total of 27 titles, which marked an open-era record ).

By 1986, the pressures of playing at the top had become too much for McEnroe to handle, and he took a six-month break from the tour.

McEnroe was not known for a power game, but rather for his serve and volley mastery, a style of play that faded in the 2000s with the advent of rackets and courts that enhanced the return of serve and made approaches to the net following a serve problematic for even the finest exponents of the craft.

More than any other player in his era, McEnroe was responsible for reviving U. S. interest in the Davis Cup, which had been shunned by Jimmy Connors and other leading U. S. players, and had not seen a top U. S. player regularly compete since Arthur Ashe ( Connors ' refusal to play Davis Cup in lieu of lucrative exhibitions became a source of enmity between him and Ashe ).

In 1978, McEnroe won two singles rubbers in the final as the U. S. captured the cup for the first time since 1972, beating the United Kingdom in the final.

McEnroe continued to be a mainstay of U. S. Davis Cup teams for the next 14 years and was part of U. S. winning teams in 1979, 1981, 1982, and 1992.

In 1989, McEnroe won a record fifth title at the World Championship Tennis Finals ( the championship tournament of the WCT tour, which was being staged for the last time ), defeating top-ranked Lendl in the semifinals.

Controversy was never far from McEnroe, however ; in his fourth round match against Mikael Pernfors at the 1990 Australian Open, McEnroe was ejected from the tournament for swearing at the umpire, supervisor, and referee.

" The band toured for two years, but McEnroe suddenly quit in 1997 just before finishing his first album.

Djokovic, known for his off-court impersonations of other star players ( many of them his friends ), mimicked McEnroe's pre-service ritual and some of his best-known antics before motioning McEnroe to come down from the press box to join him.

The win meant that McEnroe had won doubles titles in four different decades and surpassed Tom Okker for the second highest number ( 71 ) of doubles titles in history ( trailing Todd Woodbridge ).

The titular favourite people include Anton Chekhov, John Belushi, Barry Sheene, Margaret Thatcher (" only for a few days " the author allows ), John McEnroe and Starsky and Hutch.