If John McEnroe were a street he would be Broadway, all flashing lights and confidence and surprises, in the city where he grew up, but he reined back on the braggadocio when he handed Andy Murray a sobering warning about his chances at the US Open, which starts on Monday.
He is not writing him off but when they spoke here this week, he was blunt: Murray needs a kind run in the early rounds – starting with the last-minute substitute for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Australian James Duckworth – and plenty of quality recovery time if his creaking body is to carry him towards the final weekend.
Murray still limps to accommodate the trauma of the hip surgery he reluctantly underwent in January, although he is steadily regaining some of his zip in covering vast acreages during a match.
While Murray needs no reminding of the scale of his challenge as he seeks to find even a sliver of the form and inspiration that lifted him to his breakthrough title in New York in 2012, his conversation with McEnroe was a timely reminder that his comeback will be no easier in the city and tournament he loves almost as much as Wimbledon.
McEnroe’s save-get setting is upbeat to the point of recklessness, yet age has tempered him, as he revealed in a wide-ranging conversation shared on ESPN on Friday.
“I didn’t have surgery like Andy but my hip was part of the reason I had six months out,” McEnroe said. “I’m another guy who came back and was never the same player as I was before. I felt my time off – I had my first child during that period – would refresh me. The plan was to come back and be better. I thought there was another gear I could find. But I didn’t find it and it was tremendously disappointing and frustrating.
“I never felt I moved as well as I did the first seven or eight years of my career and it’s hard for that not to be in your head. It’s a somewhat sobering and frightening thought but you also start to realise you love the sport and want to be back in the mix. So I’m sure he’s excited. I don’t know Andy well but I know him well enough to know he has done and will continue to do everything he can to get as close to what he was as possible. He’ll be out there in some big matches and will be able to appreciate all the effort.”
McEnroe, who won four of his seven slam titles at Flushing Meadows, is not totally dismissing Murray’s chances. He experienced enough unlikely wins of his own to know talent and magic can sometimes make the impossible utterly believable.
“When I met him the other day, he more or less said he didn’t have a chance of winning,” McEnroe said. “In some way it takes away some of the pressure he feels, because he knows in Great Britain there’s high expectations every time he steps on the court, no matter how much time he’s missed. It’s understandable he would want to minimise the pressure and it’s somewhat realistic.
“But I have to add I’ve seen some players who have made similar comments and gone on to win grand slams. They have been able to slide in the back door a little bit and not be the focus of attention. Perhaps he’s being truthful but maybe if he can get some confidence and start to become more aware of what he’s capable of – because best of five is a lot different than best of three – then he could put together a good run.
“Depending on how close he is to being Andy Murray, of course he has a chance against anyone. We’re talking about a guy who has been there and done it. So to think he couldn’t go out and do some damage or make some inroads would be a mistake.
“To be able to go seven matches and win those is the part the body and mind aren’t used to and the recovery would be more difficult. The cards would have to play out perfectly for him in terms of scheduling and his rest and recovery so he’d be able to really make a run at it and go deep into the tournament.”
Only four players (yes, those ones) have shared the top two places in the world rankings since Rafael Nadal displaced Lleyton Hewitt at No 2 in 2005. It is a measure of the 32-year-old Spaniard’s longevity and stamina that he stands on top of the mountain again as he prepares to defend his title, with Roger Federer, who has just turned 37, not far behind and still a contender to resume his reign as the world No 1.
However, the Swiss is looking and sounding a little tired. It is as if his extraordinary revival over the past two years is starting to take its toll on his spirit, although it would be folly on a grand scale to dismiss his chances.
Nevertheless, this might be the watershed moment tennis has been bracing itself for more than a decade, the first time since Wimbledon last year that Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Murray have competed at the same slam, with the champion and the Serb fancied to meet in the final two Sundays from now.
