After starting the year off with a celebration of The Greatest' (Mohammed Ali) birthday ESPN Classic continues to bring the legendary
sports icons to the comfort of your living room. DStv audiences are invited to celebrate the birthday and memorable career of a tennis
player that had a passion and aggression that matched his talent for the sport, John McEnroe, on February 16th at 18:05 CAT.
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr is an American former World No, 1 professional tennis player. McEnroe's career saw him take home seven Grand Slam
singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the U.S Open), nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title.
McEnroe was born in the U.S military base at Wiesbaden, West Germany and is the son of Katy and John Patrick McEnroe Sr. an attorney who was at the time stationed with the U.S Air Force. He was less than a year old when his family moved to New York City and he grew up in Douglaston
Queens.
He took the tennis world by storm at the age of 18 in 1977, when he made it through the qualifying tournament into the main draw at Wimbledon. He then made it as far as the semi finals where he lost to Jimmy Connors in
four sets. It was the best performance by a qualifier at a Grand Slam tournament and record performance for an amateur. After joining Stanford
University he won the NCAA singles and team titles in 1978, he followed that success up by joining the professional tour.
McEnroe signed one of the first professional endorsement deals in tennis with Sergio Tacchini, and won his first Grand Slam singles title at the
1979 US Open. At the final he defeated his good friend Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets to become the youngest winner of the championship since Pancho Gonzales in 1948.
He is known and remembered for his amazing shot-making skill and superb volleying, he is also known for his rivalries with tennis greats Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl but his is mostly known for his confrontational on-court behavior which frequently landed him in hot
water with umpires and other tennis authorities. One of his famous catchphrases was "you can't be serious" which was directed at an umpire
during a match at Wimbledon in 1981. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1999.
At the end of his career McEnroe had played in no less than 24 Grand Slam finals and won 11 of them, he was a runner-up in 4. He had also
played in 12 doubles finals, won 9 and had 3 runner-ups. His mixed doubles tally was one game played with one win. At his peak McEnroe had
a 257 week run as World's number 1 tennis player.
DStv viewers are also reminded not to miss out on the other great and historic sporting moments on ESPN Classic. A SEASON TO REMEMBER on week
nights at 20:50 CAT will take a look at some of the best moments and matches in the English Premier League's history as well as Retief
Goosen's 40th birthday on February 3rd at 17:30 CAT. Other highlights include the 1995 Rugby World Cup and a rebroadcast of some of the great
matches that have been played in the English Premier league.