Visual Tennis: McEnroe Case Study

In the middle of 1991, John McEnroe was in the middle of a serious comeback.
He was convinced he could still compete
with the world’s top players. But he had a problem.

Johnny Mac in 1984 when he dominated tennis with his serve and attacking game.

For a period of several months his serve–the dominating shot that had
made him one of the most electrifying players in tennis history during the late 1970’s
and early 1980’s–was consistently the weak link in his play. His first serve percentage
was less than 50%. Meanwhile the radar gun was registering ball
speeds in the mid 90 mph range.

The result was that John had to work very hard on his service games,
was under constant pressure to hit difficult first volleys, and was often broken twice
or three times a set. Though his legendary mental toughness kept him in many matches,
he seemed to have lost the firepower to win against top players. Many observers
commented that at age 30 the game had passed him by.

Working with John in making the “Winning Edge” instructional video in 1984, I had spent a lot of hours studying his technique, particularly on his serve. Watching…