John McEnroe Puts Oomph Behind Alternative Tennis Academy.

[elleng]

“People feel, put the kids in the middle of nowhere, isolate them, so all they can do is live and breathe tennis,” he said. “Me, I went to Florida with Harry Hopman, at 15 or 16, for one day and said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here.’ Never would I have made it if I had to do that. It would have been a form of torture. I mean, some people will say, There’s too much going on in New York. But I feel that with the natural energy here, you can feed off that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/sports/tennis/08tennis.html?hpw

[tishaLA]

1. I hope this succeeds

and I'm sorry his efforts to lead the USTA academy didn't come to fruition. We really need more players like McEnroe, Billie Jean, and Hingis involved in developing players now. They all had interesting games--far more interesting than anyone today except Federer and probably Henin--and were master tacticians. The sport needs more of that.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Yes and no. McEnroe has been at the fore of those saying women shouldn't be paid as much as men. nt