Flexibility and John McEnroe

What did flexibility mean to Stanford tennis?

Flexibility is an incredibly important trait for a leader in any field. It might be required in dealing with an individual or even by adjusting a company's own business plan. Nimbleness can be required. Never are things always the same, and while keeping within one's own personal parameters, the ability to adjust can lead to success or failure.

I have always felt that being flexible--being willing and able to adapt when the situation warranted--is a personal strength of mine and very important to our success as a team. I firmly believe that everyone is different, and to get the best out of my teams, players could not always be treated the same.

This requires a different variety of management skills and a tolerance for fluidity because challenges, situations, and personnel are consistently changing.

"Dick’s ability to work with a wide range of player personalities, often difficult ones, while keeping an ever-present positive outlook was absolutely unique," writes Mark Conroe, class of 1980.

"While he had a firm hand on the team, he allowed players to express themselves in a way that worked best for them. This flexible approach allowed each player to be his best."

John McEnroe presented me with one of my early challenges in being flexible because, as we all know, John certainly wasn't just another player, and as a result, the circumstances under which he entered his freshman year were unusual and required a very definite departure from the norm.

John had had a great summer on tour before his scheduled arrival for his freshman fall at Stanford. However, I was not completely certain whether or not he was accepting prize money, which would have rendered him ineligible for collegiate competition.

When he called me from the airport to say he had arrived for fall quarter and asked if I could pick him up (which the rules allowed in those days),·I said only half jokingly, "Mac, I thought you turned pro. I've given your scholarship away!" There was a moment of silence until I could not hold it anymore, and I started laughing.

My primary concern, however, stemmed from the fact that in the winter and spring of his senior year of high school and when his academic schedule permitted, he had played a lot of pro events as an amateur, which in collegiate tennis one can do as long as no prize money is claimed.

Upon his high school graduation, he traveled directly to Wimbledon to represent the US in the junior event there, which would start the second week of the main tourney. John had done so well in the winter and spring pro tourneys that he had also been accepted into the Wimbledon qualifying event, which almost was as difficult to get into as the main draw.

Playing at Roehampton, the site of Wimbledon's qualifying, he won enough matches to actually make the men's draw, and then he kept winning throughout that first week.

All of a sudden, it was time for the junior event to begin, but he was still in the men's tournament. Obviously, he dropped out of the juniors, and then famously went on to reach the men's semifinals before losing to Jimmy Connors in 4 sets. That was when I thought I might lose him--that he would never remain an amateur and matriculate at Stanford.

He continued to play throughout the summer with solid results. I'm not sure he ever took a week off, but I did feel he had overplayed, which might have led to him being stale and tired the following spring when I needed him to be at his best.

Mac played through the qualies and lost to Connors in the main draw.

I therefore decided--and this relates to flexibility--to give him the fall off. I told him I did not want to see him at the tennis courts until January.

This was only the second time I had ever done this: Stanley Pasarell, my first full-scholarship player, reminded me that I had given him his first fall term off as well. The fall season of competition was very light in those days, so John would not be missing any competition of great value.

When I explained my decision to his teammates, no one complained in any way. To be totally truthful, I knew John was not a good practice player in the normal sense of the word.

Rather, he improved by playing matches, so standard practice repetitions would be of limited value for him. He would quickly lose interest in months of practice without matches.

Michael Flanagan, class of 1994, sums up the philosophy behind this approach: "Coach did a masterful job of motivating players and knowing what each player needed to get the most out of his game.

"For some players and teams, he would apply pressure like challenge matches or be in their face about their performance. With some players and teams, he was very laid back and let the situation play out. He was always striving to get the very best out of each individual player."

Matt Mitchell the defending NCAA singles champion started the season at number 4!

And that's what I was trying to do with Johnny Mac. John was joining an outstanding defending NCAA championship team with a lot of returnees, including Matt Mitchell, the then reigning NCAA singles champ; Bill Maze, a great player and longtime rival of Matt's in NorCal juniors; Perry Wright, a top player from Southern California, and several others.

With the addition of John, I believed this would be one of the best teams we had ever had. My hunch was borne out when we completed that 1977-78 season undefeated and with all the four players McEnroe, Maze, Mitchell, and Wright-ranked in the final top twelve collegiate national rankings.

In addition, two other members of that team eventually went on to be ranked in the top one hundred in the world in singles. Peter Rennert at #40 as well as #9 in world doubles, and in 1980 as the #1 college player in the nation, and Lloyd Bourne at world singles #73). It also included two other great players, team captain John Rast and Jim Hodges.

At the beginning of the season, this abundance of riches presented some challenges, starting with setting the lineup for our first real competition of the year-the ITA Division National Men's Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisconsin in February. In good faith, I felt I had to have John, Matt, and Bill play each other.

I had to give both Matt, as the defending NCAA champ and Bill a shot at number one. In these matches, Bill defeated Matt in three sets, and Mac defeated Matt and Bill, both also in three-set matches. So the top three spots were set, except that Perry Wright then upset Matt to start the season at number three. Matt, the defending NCAA singles champ, was starting the year as number four on the team!

Challenge matches are always stressful, but these were extreme. I remember it was raining on one of the match days, and I had left myself no wiggle room in which to complete the matches before leaving for the national indoor event. Thus, we played some of them at a nearby indoor facility.

I will never forget my ride home at rush hour on the freeway in the rain with darkness falling. Johnny Mac was driving, and he was still so wound up, I thought he was going to run into someone or drive off the road. Fortunately for us both, we survived a harrowing thirty minutes.

When we arrived at the National Team Indoor Championships in Madison, Wisconsin, it was the first time I had seen Mac compete in person as a college player. What a great competitor!

In addition, I quickly learned in those four days what a great team player he was. He often finished his match before many of his teammates. Before I could say or do anything, he would be on his teammate's court to congratulate him or console him. This revelation affected how I was to treat him in some trying moments later in the year at the NCAA championships.

Not surprisingly, in subsequent years he always answered the call when asked to represent his country in Davis Cup competition, no matter how exhausted he might have been. What an incredibly loyal person!

No one has generated as many questions as John.

I say, fondly, that I have had a lot of outspoken characters on my teams over the years, but none of them generated as many questions from tennis fans as John McEnroe. I love John.

At that time, he was a young eighteen and a ton of fun to be around. For example, one night during the indoor tourney in Wisconsin, I was out a little late having some refreshments with my fellow coaching buddies.

At two o'clock in the morning when I headed for my room, common sense dictated that I return inconspicuously via the fire escape stairway.

But who did I run into? Here was Mac coming off the elevator at the other end of the hall after his own fun night on the town. And Madison is fun!

Mac knew he was caught red-handed, and as we passed in the hallway, he wasn't sure what to say or do. I simply said, "It's a little late, Mac. Better hit the rack soon." He writes in one of his books that he thought that was pretty cool, but little did he know I needed in the worst way to hit the rack myself!

"I think one of Coach s greatest assets," says Dan Goldie, 1986, NCAA singles champ and world pro #27, in summing up my approach to Mac and everyone else, "was being able to understand each players unique personality and needs. He was able to adjust his coaching and relationship style to get the most out of everyone and gain their respect. He tailored the art of coaching and development to fit the unique personality of each student. For me, it was positive encouragement, making me less serious, taking the pressure off, helping me enjoy my successes."

Everyone always asks about Johnny Mac's behavior. I must say he really comported himself well--almost all year. It was a foregone conclusion Mac would only complete his freshman year, but because of this, he put an immense amount of pressure on himself to cap off his one year in college as the NCAA singles champion.

Wimbledon semifinalist or not, John would have to truly earn the NCAA singles title on the court because there was some great competition in the college ranks, from his lifelong nemesis, Larry Gottfried of Trinity, to future top ten player Eliot Teltscher of UCLA, and, among others-perhaps most of all-his own teammates! John knew this, and as the season wound down, I could literally see the self-imposed pressure building inside him!

Mac began to boil over against Eddie Edwards.

The last regular season match was at home against Pepperdine. Their ace was a really nice guy and talented player from South Africa named Eddie Edwards. Suddenly, it was as if the dam burst somewhere inside Mac, and with no provocation I could sense, he basically lost all composure playing Eddie. Because of the great year he had had, I chose to ignore it, and I don't think I ever mentioned it to him.

By the time we got to Georgia for the NCAAs, John was wound even tighter. Seemingly little things, such as a spectator talking too loudly or moving between points, would set him off. Our linesmen and chair umpires in those days were not trained and certified as professional umpires as they are today. They more often than not consisted of tennis fanatics, many of them University of Georgia professors who played tennis at lunchtime and local club members.

With Mac seemingly itching for a fight in order to blow off steam, they were prime targets for his frustrations. During the championships, he was less than a good citizen to the point where I eventually had a decision to make. Should I sit John or let him continue to play in the individual tournament following the team win?

John had done so much for me and his teammates all year that I ultimately decided to stick with him. I also honestly felt that he would not learn any redeeming or lasting lesson if I pulled him from competition. Yet, here was a guy I really liked and cared about bringing the wrath of much of the crowd down on himself!

In one of the gutsiest performances I have ever seen-over eight days in ninety-degree heat and humidity, a total of eighteen matches with the last being three of five sets--Mac won the title. I was so proud of him!

I have never met a fiercer competitor, and I have had many great ones. Although this book is intended to be about more than tennis, and although this is yet another tennis story, this feat was too amazing to omit here. It vividly describes how flexibility with a coach's personal values, this time relating to standards of behavior, can lead to an extraordinary effort and result. Stay tuned for the details.

Flexibility and John McEnroe

Dick Gould