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Today, ESPN tennis analyst John McEnroe spoke with media about the US Open, which starts Monday, August 25, with 100 hours on ESPN television and 400 on ESPN3.

According to John:

• The women’s field is even more wide open than the men’s, although “if (Serena) plays her A game, she should win it, and I think will win it.”
• Younger players are getting ready to break through on the men’s side, where Stan Wawrinka’s victory Down Under, Nadal’s absence, and Murray’s struggles provide hope and opportunity: “If you look at Raonic, to me is obviously the guy, and (with) Dimitrov are the two most obvious guys, that are ready to step in the void.”
• Regarding Federer, and his strategy to go deep in the tournament: “Seems like Edberg maybe more than other coaches has gotten into his head at this stage of his career that that is going to help him….So I would expect, especially if it’s hot, that he will continue to try to do some of that (go to the net) to cut down on the length of rallies when he needs to.”
• Regarding Federer, who is 33, the age John was when he retired, and playing his 60^th straight Major: “it’s obviously remarkable and unbelievable that he’s been able to do this consistently well for this long. To do that, 60 majors in a row, is heroic in a way. That should not be underestimated or underappreciated by tennis fans.”
• The best part about being John McEnroe: “Being able to meet a lot of the people that I idolized, whether it’s ‑‑ I love music and the arts and the other side of my brain that I didn’t use as much in competition that allowed me the greatest perks of being able to see and be close to and meet people that you sort of thought were these incredible idols, and in some cases you become friendly with them.”

1. I was watching the Sharapova‑Ivanovic match in Cincinnati last week where Sharapova mocked Ivanovic for getting sick. It made me think how so many of the very top women lately from Henin to Serena to Sharapova have been a lot edgier or angrier than the top men, at least on the court. Do you think there is anything to this sociologically, that it takes an edgy, tough woman these days to be at the top?

McENROE: I’m not sure it’s either one. I mean, that’s really difficult to say. You’re asking a question that I don’t think anyone really knows the answer to. I think the rules are being abused on the men and women’s side.    Until that changes ‑‑ they talk about people taking too much time, and until they put a clock on the court that won’t change. Until they disallow some of the other things they’re allowing now the other thing won’t change either.          Maybe some of the female players are getting fed up with it sooner than the men.

1. Long Island question. Our local fellow Noah Rubin has gotten into the main draw. I know you’ve worked with him. Any update on what you see from this kid?

McENROE: He’s made a lot of progress the last couple months. He’s always competed well and he’s starting to get more comfortable with what he can and cannot do. He’s learned over the past couple years how to utilize his advantages more and cut down on what he doesn’t do as well. He’s become more consistent mentally, so the progress is there. It’s a good sign for him in the future.

1. And another very odd question. It came up with when we were in Ohio about some of the American players talking about, ‘Gosh, it was so great to be back on American soil,’ because when they’re in Europe and traveling around the language throws them off and it makes them uncomfortable. All the Europeans can speak several languages. Did you find that a discomfort when you were first on the tour, that English wouldn’t always be spoken where you were touring or was that no big deal?

McENROE: Well, actually, players spoke English to me. I think that of all the regrets I have, including my loss at the French, my biggest one was not learning other languages. I saw how was it done so easily by the European players, among others. Not just them. Pretty much everyone except Americans. So I think that it’s one of the things here that’s discouraged is sort of the willingness or openness to speak other languages. I think that’s something that I wish I had embraced more. As far as whether it bothered me or not, that wasn’t the case. Some of the greatest cities in the world are in Europe.

1. Do think it’s partly because Europeans, the countries are next to each other and they’re just stuck with having to learn languages, and here we are separate from everyone and everyone speaks English so we never have to?

McENROE: Obviously if you’ve been to Europe it’s definitely true that countries are extremely close to each other. So the languages are similar in a way. There are a lot of people that speak other languages here, particularly Spanish. I think we would be well served to add a little bit for what we’re capable of instead of sort of closing off and sort of trying to insist everyone speaks English.

1. Do you get the sense that Wawrinka’s win at the Australian Open gave hope to players outside of the big three that they could come in there and win a Grand Slam? With Nadal out at the US Open is there an opportunity for that?

McENROE: Yeah, well, there is no question that that’s a huge blow and it does open the door. Clearly Federer and Djokovic are the top two favorites, followed my Murray, even though he’s seeded lower. But things happen, as we see just by the fact that Nadal is not defending his title. So that alone you would open ‑‑ you think that guys wouldn’t have to beat three ‑‑ most likely. Well, the draw is tomorrow, so I’m not sure what Murray is going to be. But most of the time anyone outside of the top four is going to have to beat two or even three of the top guys, which is unbelievably difficult to do. This drops it down to perhaps two at the most and maybe one if there is an upset. So that swings things in the favor of sort of people that haven’t won any majors or someone that’s just won one.

1. When players saw Wawrinka win the Australian Open, you think that sort of was a sign of hope that it could be done?

McENROE: I would certainly assume so. They’d be crazy to take it any other way. If they did, they would diminish any chance they have of winning. I’m sure that made some players, most of whom are in the top 15, pretty much all those guys think that maybe I can do it now. If he did it, why can’t I? That would be a legitimate thought to think.

1. I know there was a lot of talk at Wimbledon about the new guard on both sides moving up. Familiar faces in the final for the men. Focus on two or three names on both sides, men and women, who are the key players who can push and maybe disrupt the top four or big four, and how close are they in your mind? How hard is it to do?

McENROE: Well, I mean, again, now it’s three and Murray is not at the level he was, although he has a shot now to sort of reestablish himself. If you look at Raonic, to me is obviously the guy, and (with) Dimitrov are the two most obvious guys, that are ready to step in the void. The question with Dimitrov is somewhat physical. Is he ready to do it on a hard court as opposed to the grass court where his talent was able to shine through a little bit more easily. Raonic, he wants to prove he’s not a one‑trick pony, that he just doesn’t have this awesome serve and big hitting. So those are the guys where you’re not sure. Wawrinka won it and he hasn’t been the same since. He doesn’t seem to be able to handle the attention in a way. It’s difficult to say who would be that one person that would step in. Tsonga just beat four of the top 10 players in the world in one event, so he should establish himself as a guy that would be in that group of four or five guys that could do it. Again, this is a different animal, best‑of‑three best‑of‑five, so to sort of remains to be seen who’s mentally and physically ready.

As far as the women, it’s clearly more wide open than the men’s. If you look at Serena, if she plays her A game she should win it, and I think will win it. The thing is she hasn’t played her A game at the majors. Gives that you pause that maybe she won’t again; you’re not sure. Azarenka has been injured most of the year. Sharapova to me would be the next favorite. Then people like Halep. Li Na is not even playing. Kvitova won Wimbledon. It was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen played at the finals of Wimbledon, but you haven’t heard a whole lot since. You would certainly think she would be capable of it. There are couple obvious choices of people that have made runs in the majors. Bouchard I thought was going to win Wimbledon, but then she seems to be struggling. So it’s pretty difficult to say right now.

1. One quick follow up on that, Bouchard. It was over so quickly for her at Wimbledon. How would you expect that experience is going to add to her growth?

McENROE: I mean, it’s difficult to say. Some people it hits them hard and they don’t react well to it. Some people get hungry and realize there is more to do. She seems like an intelligent young lady and would obviously take the positives out if it. She sort of set herself up. Look, I’m ready to win this, and that was a humbling loss.        Then again, she got to the finals, which is an awesome result. She should certainly take the positives from it, and the next time it happens ‑‑ I mean, in a way there is not a whole lot she could do because Kvitova was on fire. It didn’t seem like there was a whole lot she could do much no matter what that stage. Like she was overwhelmed, which she was, and that allowed Kvitova to relax. I think more than anything it would be something mental that she would try to do different as opposed to ‑‑ or perhaps like the game plan she was committed to standing in close. She refused to go to a Plan B. I think maybe she’ll learn that even when you get to the finals you got to be willing to shift gears if you have to.

1. Wondering if you saw any of Roger Federer playing in Cincinnati last week, and what your impression was of his very obvious plan to take the net as much as he possibly could?

McENROE: Well, I think that I’ve seen this little by little, but the difficulty with doing that regularly obviously is that as you get older you lose a little bit of that first‑step quickness. He seems to be doing an incredible job of bringing that part of the game more into becoming something that he believes is something that’s going to help him. I think that this isn’t something new or that people weren’t suggesting he do for years. Seems like Edberg maybe more than other coaches has gotten into his head at this stage of his career that that is going to help him. Clearly a guy with that type of talent, it doesn’t come along once every 10, 20 years like that. He’s got the ability to do that.      Back in it was 2008 when he lost in the Olympics and then won the doubles with Stan, the fact that he was playing a lot at the net I thought helped him win the Open by coming to net. So this isn’t the first time people talked about it or that actually when he was getting more comfortable at the net it benefited him. So I would expect, especially if it’s hot, that he will continue to try to do some of that to cut down on the length of rallies when he needs to.

1. Keeping with the Federer theme here, can you just talk about A, having Nadal out, how much that helps Federer. Do you see him as the favorite now or do you still think Djokovic is the favorite considering the summer Federer has had and that he just seems to be somewhat of a block against Nadal? Secondly, can you talk about his longevity? Nadal has had to pull out and he is now going to play in his 60th straight Grand Slam.

McENROE: Yeah, it’s obviously remarkable and unbelievable that he’s been able to do this consistently well for this long. To do that, 60 majors in a row, is heroic in a way. That should not be underestimated or underappreciated by tennis fans, that he’s stepped up every single time. That has, in a way, sort of in the (indiscernible) the greatest of all time, that would come into it a little bit. Clearly his head‑to‑head record with Nadal would be a negative. That seems to be a matchup that he doesn’t feel comfortable with. Obviously not having to deal with him is a huge positive for him potentially down the road if he’s at a stage at the end of the event. As far as the first part of the question, I would give a slight, slight favorite to Djokovic based on it being best‑of‑five and best‑of‑three. He’s younger and he can go the distance perhaps a little bit more easily than Roger at this stage. A little bit. And depending on what happens leading up to it if they were to play in the final, some of it would have to do with how much was left in the tank from previous matches. So the advantage for Roger I guess a little bit is there is a day off as there hasn’t been for so long for the semifinalists, and that benefits the older guys. They can sort of bounce back if they were both to have played pretty tough semifinal matches.        Any person Roger played, it would benefit him to get that breather, that day off. I think at this stage, clearly Roger has been playing better over the summer. There is no doubt about that. But I’m not sure that would matter a whole lot were they to play. I don’t think it would. I don’t think Novak’s mind has been into it since ‑‑ it was one of the greatest matches I ever saw at Wimbledon. He ever got married. His mind ‑‑ to me. Only seen a little bit of him. I didn’t see a lot of his matches, but I saw a few. I think it was difficult for him to get back into the swing of things. I believe they’ll be ready here.

1. Hi, John. If you don’t mind, Victoria Azarenka, she’s somebody who after last year’s US Open obviously has had a very frustrating last 12 months with injuries. She was always thought to be one the women’s players that can consistently push Serena. Do you see any chance of her making any noise at the Open?

McENROE: Well, I mean, everyone is intimidated by Serena, especially when she’s playing her A game. If she doesn’t play well, that opens the door for a lot of people. She becomes human. Azarenka was a player that seemed to believe as much or more than anyone else that she could do some damage. Her confidence is nowhere near what it was a year ago. I don’t think she has been able to train as hard as she wanted. I don’t think she’s played nearly as many matches as she would’ve liked to. But as far as whether or not she could be a factor, the mere fact that she’s won some majors and she’s still young and obviously wants to sort of ‑‑ this has been a nightmare for her, so I think she does have an opportunity to do something. I’m not a 100% sure where she is physically, if she’s healthy. I haven’t heard whether she is 100% healthy and just needs match play. She may potentially go a long way. Obviously right now she’s not playing with a lot of confidence.

1. The Open, biggest tournament in the world, biggest stadium, biggest lights. For somebody who’s won it, you get a feel for it. The new people coming in trying to win their first Grand Slam, what kind of pressure does that put on them? Also, it’s been over ten years since an American has won it. Do you foresee that changing any time soon?

McENROE: As far as the first part of the question, any time you try to win a major there’s a certain amount of pressure you put on yourself. For example, you decide in your own mind you’re ready to win one. Automatically you’re putting a level of pressure on yourself. Then if you go around talking about it, that adds another level. Then people and press and others start talking about it. That adds another level of expectation. At the same time, it’s a different type of pressure that would be for the favorite because they’re expected to go deep in the event. So on some level there is less pressure. Depends how someone reacts to it. So in some way, when you’re younger you don’t even feel the pressure in the same way. As you’re getting older in your career and you’re realizing your career is winding down, a lot of it has to do with circumstances of the time.

As far as the American part, clearly my brother, who’s probably coming back from some USTA‑related thing, is trying to find guys. Seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel with some of the younger guys. (Indiscernible) at my academy has made a lot of progress. There are some guys, Stefan Kozlov, young guys coming along that seem to be pushing each other, which is the type of thing we need. It seems like we’re headed back hopefully in the right direction. Clearly there is a long way to go to sort of turn around and say, Well, this is headed back to where Americans are going to be winning a lot of majors. I don’t see that right now. I haven’t seen all of the younger guys, and I look forward to hoping that they become more of a factor. Clearly that’s huge for us.

As far as this particular Open, it’s certainly more open than it’s been when you got Nadal out of it. So we’ll see if guys like Isner, you know, he’s the one guy that looks like he can go ‑‑ you know, was capable of going a long way in this event ‑‑ what he’s got left in the tank, how much he believes he can do it. He’s the only guy right now that to me has any chance of doing anything at this present time. You know, running deep in this event, I should say.

1. You arguably have one of the best and most varied careers after leaving the regular circuit. You meet so many people. You’re sort of able to grow in a lot of different ways, face a lot of different challenges. We’re asking top people in the game, aside from your family and all you get from that, sort of what’s the best part of being John McEnroe these days? What do you like best about your life?

McENROE: I think that as you get older you get an appreciation of sort of where you are in your life at the present time, along with seeing what you did in the past and what you were able to ‑‑ what I was able to accomplish on a court, but also grow as a person off the court. I guess the best part is I get to see myself, sort of look in the mirror and see things that went on in the past and see someone who has made an effort to improve.          The other best part would be probably being able to meet a lot of the people that I idolized, whether it’s ‑‑ I love music and the arts and the other side of my brain that I didn’t use as much in competition that allowed me the greatest perks of being able to see and be close to and meet people that you sort of thought were these incredible idols, and in some cases you become friendly with them.

1. A little bit more specifically, what area do you think you’ve improved? You said improving. And what person in music?

McENROE: I’ve improved in every area except my tennis.

1. And in music or in general, the celebrities and people of distinction?

McENROE: I think if you just read my book, for example, you would get a pretty good indication of some of the people. It’s not that you just want to meet celebrities. You get to meet people that sort of strive for something great. You get to talk to them and get to talk about the very question that you’re asking, How did you handle it? How were you able to take your success and use it in ways that you feel proud of? It’s not just like how many people came to a match or how many people were at the concert. In a lot of cases there is a reason they’re as great as they are, so you try to feed off what they do and learn from it. You try to learn from everything. I can learn from having conversations with anybody. That’s part of why I love living in New York City.

1. When you were on the tour all those years ago, could you ever have imagined or could you imagine the top northern American man would be Canadian in Raonic?

McENROE: Well, that’s true. Didn’t expect that one to happen. I guess I learned to expect the unexpected. But I think that there is a variety of reasons for why we’re in the position, America, that we are in today. We don’t have enough time to get into all of it. There is a lot of things going on. A lot of the things I’ve talked about just with my own tennis academy, how expensive it is and how unattainable and unaffordable it is. These are all factors too. If you do a better marketing job getting people into the sport and making them want to play the sport and making it more sexy and attractive to play.

I think we got complacent many, many years ago and we’re scrambling to try catch up. There are a lot of places, like Europe where I believe the game is healthier and there is more of a tradition, so they don’t feel the need to change in the way I think that that needs to change. That’s for another conversation. But there has been a big event in Canada ever since I was playing, so it’s not the unexpected that someone would come along. Milos came from Montenegro, I believe, and moved there when he was a young kid. There is a history of success in Yugoslavia, which is what it was called before it broke into different countries. Maybe the parents knew about it and sort of brought it over to Canada. It’s more complicated than saying growing up in Canada instead of playing hockey he played tennis. Either way, there’s got to be ways and we’ve got to be reaching out for a lot of different ways that we can figure out how to get more people into tennis, starting with making it more affordable.

1. On John Isner, touched on that earlier. Where are you in terms of John’s standing, what he’s done at the majors? In his career in general, would you say that he’s done what you expected? Would you say he’s underachieved? Has he overachieved?

McENROE: I think John has done a really solid job. I am not going to say he has under or overachieved. That sort of remains to be seen. He’s done a great job getting himself as fit as possible. He’s worked hard to make himself a better player. He’s been hovering around the top 10 for a number of years and I think has done a really solid job with his career and should be very proud of himself.

Look at how athletic these guys are at the top. It’s extremely difficult. This guy has one of the top 5 greatest serves in the history of tennis. That just shows you it’s not enough just to have that one thing. I think Raonic sees that also, and that’s where why he’s working so hard to improve his game. John is more aware of his pros and cons, liabilities and strong suits than anyone. I’m assuming that he’s doing everything he can do work on those. It’s not easy to pull it off. But I guarantee you that when the top players look at a draw, they’re not too excited to see John Isner’s name near them.

1. I know the Johnny Mac tennis project, you got a big event going tomorrow and Novak is going to be there, and Safarova. Talk about the impact you’re trying to make with the next generation of kids, urban kids, and maybe kids that are not involved in tennis?

McENROE: I can tell you in a nutshell that when I grew up there was a great tennis academy in Port Washington where all the top players went, so I tried to model my academy along the same lines. You know, believing that you don’t have to move to Florida when you’re ten and live and breathe tennis. Most people that have heard me talk know where I stand on this, that you should be more well‑rounded, especially now where it takes even longer to break into the sport and make a name for yourself on the men’s side. There is a two‑fold attack: One is to try to get the best players in the area to train there. I think that can make a big difference. Two is what I just referred to, which is to try to raise as much money as possible, because Lord knows you need a lot of it because it’s too expensive, to make it affordable to kids, the great majority of kids that are unable to even try to play tennis because it’s out of their league financially. So with a place like Harlem so close by with its great history and success with athletes as well as other parts of the city, it seems like a no‑brainer to try get as many kids to be able play this sport, which I think is a great sport, as possible.

1. Question about Andy Murray. There has been a lot of talk about his tie‑up with Mauresmo and whether or not that is working out. Do you see the US Open as a make‑or‑break for that relationship? What would John McEnroe do if the US Open wasn’t to work out? Would you yourself make the decision to end a relationship like that?

McENROE: Well, first of all, I don’t know the situation well enough to make a blanket statement that it should be make or break. I don’t believe that I’m in a position to declare one way or the other. That’s up to him. I don’t know how often they’ve even been together since or before Wimbledon. To me, any time you get a new partnership going it’s going to take some time to gel. Didn’t happen overnight with Ivan. I’m still surprised it broke off between him and Ivan.

Now it’s a new situation that I would presume in any case needs time for it to work. For Mauresmo it was a difficult situation to walk in for both of them because Murray was defending his title at Wimbledon. Clearly because he had the surgery and all this has gone back into trying to get his progression back, it isn’t a process that is easy for anyone to walk back into. I would this year, without a doubt if he was able to pull this off and win this. And if he were to lose it, it would be a time for him to decide how much longer ‑‑ I mean, to me, it wouldn’t seem like a lot of time had gone by, let’s just say that, to make a change. If he believed in it in the first place. Seems like to me you would have to give it more time.

1. Do you believe that he’s lost any of the hunger that he had after winning Wimbledon? He’s not won a tournament since Wimbledon last year.

McENROE: Well, I think he got a little flat. I think 77 or 78 years no British person won Wimbledon, now all of a sudden less than a year later people want to write the guy off. Again, give the guy some time. He had some issues with his back. There was a point where he did something difficult and desperate enough to have surgery, which is the last resort you want to do with your back. It’s taken him I’m sure longer than he wanted it to to get back it where he wants to be. That doesn’t mean by any means he’s not going to be able to do it. Right now he’s in a pretty good position with Nadal out of the event. He’s worked pretty much the last nine months ‑‑ well, the surgery and then another six, seven months, eight or nine months, he could very well put it all together here in one shot.

1. You talked about Raonic before. Just wondering, what kind of strides do you think he’s made over the past year and how much has Ljubicic helped him?

McENROE: That’s a great question. I think he’s made some great strides. He’s very professional and dedicated to becoming the best he can be. I would like to see him show a little bit more emotion on the court and show that he really wants to be out there. That could help him win some fans. That’s easy for me to say sitting in the booth or being a back seat driver, but I think that could help him. Clearly he’s worked as hard as he can on all parts of his game. His weakness is his return of serve and starting to attack more. All in all, you would have to say Ljubicic has done a really good job for him in the last year, no question about it.

1. In which way do you think he helped him the most?

McENROE: Well, he’s someone that’s been there. Ljubicic got to 3 in the world. He wasn’t the world’s greatest mover, but he learned to utilize his assets to his advantage, as he’s doing with Milos. I don’t know what he’s saying to him. I assume he’s trying to get him to move forward, be aggressive, impose himself on people. They come from the same area. They speak the same language. There is a history and a comfort zone that I believe you can see that Milos has.

1. Thank you for taking the time. Obviously I’m here in London, so another question about our Brit, Andy Murray. He’s not really had a great 2014. Hasn’t made a final of any Grand Slam so far. What have you made of his form coming into the US Open though?

McENROE: You know, I think that if you look at it, he’s not that far away. It depends if you only look at the glass half empty or half full, and people do both. But given the fact that he had a surgery on his back, which is pretty serious, if you look at his results at the majors, he wasn’t that far off. I mean, Dimitrov is someone they talked about as someone that could certainly win majors. Nadal is the greatest clay court player and got to the semis.          Roger Federer, well, we know he’s a pretty good player also. So he’s putting himself in the position slowly but surely. To me, he’s the third favorite to win this tournament. So depending on how the draw pans out, you would absolutely anticipate that he’s going to be a factor in this event.

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