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Mac Talks, Part 2

John McEnroe participated in a conference call with members of the media May 19th. McEnroe is tied for first place in the senior tour's Nuveen Masters Point Standings and will be playing in three of the circuit's next five events. Following are highlights of McEnroe's conference call:

On Martina Hingis

"I think she's come into a vacuum in women's tennis. Monica Seles had the problem with the stabbing, then her father has cancer so one of the top players in the world has not really been playing, or been focused. Steffi, it looks like she's retiring and has had troubles with injury. So you've got two of the best players to have played the women's game in the past fifteen years who have not been around to push Hingis. She came in at a time where she's old beyond her years."

"You can see she kind of an intuitive ability, like a champion to know when to hit her shots. She knows how to play the game. But athletically, she's not possibly as athletic as some of the other players and I think that eventually, that should catch up. It's hard to tell what will happen. I don't know her workout regimine. I don't know how hard she works and part of her success might be that she's mentally relaxed and when she has to put more time into it, it will be interesting to see."

"Clearly, there are some young players around her age that are starting to push her. It doesn't look like there's much in the way of the veterans who can push her right now so it looks like you're going to have to look at the young players."

On the teenage stars of the women's game

"They're so young. It's incredible how young they are. They're like gymnasts now. They're peaking or appear to be peaking at such a young age. It's unheard of. I don't think it's healthy for these sixteen, seventeen year old players are like the top two, three players in the world. I just think that's too young for a sport."

I guess in some ways it's expected because girls have a tendency to mature before boys, but I just have this gut feeling that it's not healthy for the sport to have girls who are so young at the top of the game. It's just so much to handle."

On his game and how well he's playing

"I'm playing pretty well, but I'm disappointed because I thought I was going to win the Masters. I thought I had a pretty good chance and I kind of choked, to make a long story short, in the Tiebreaker.

I played well in Qatar and I'm looking forward to The Challenge in Newport because it's on hard courts and I think that favors my game.

On winning "the Challenge"

I'm very anxious for the Challenge. Pretty much every time I've played, I thought I had a chance of winning. Last year, we played at altitude, I had a real tough match with Bjorn and then because of the rain, I had to come back an hour later and play Jimmy and Jimmy was playing some great tennis. Each time I thought like I've had a chance and sooner or later, it's got to come up for me."

On why he continues to play on the senior circuit

"My competitive fires are not the same as they were but I think they're still a lot more than say the average person's. There's still a desire to compete. This is a great way to commit yourself to try to work harder and stay in shape. The competition has gone up and the tour seems to have found a niche."

"It keeps me in better condition than if I wasn't playing. I've been pretty successful at making a transition from the sport, but I don't think it goes away from you completely. Regardless of what I do in the future, I'm always going to be known as a tennis player, so rather than fighting that, and walking away from it, here's an opportunity to pick my spots, without the pressure."

"Not playing, there's a big vacuum, a big emptiness in the stomach so this allows me to feel close to the game. In a lot of ways it's helped me."

On his tennis now

"When I was in Qatar and for the Masters, I felt like my tennis game was picking up, particularly between Naples and Doha. I felt like my game was at a level where I could have beaten most of the players on the main tour for a couple of sets. Not a best of five set match, not over the course of five or six matches in a tournament, but I felt like I was hitting the ball well."

On his goals for the future

"My goal is to turn into the George Foreman of tennis. He's a great personality and he can fight. He still throws a mean punch. I'd like to enjoy my sport as much as he enjoys his."

I haven't changed. I think that when people have an opinion about you one way or another, that is good. People come up to me all the time and say don 'Don't change a thing..' I mean people like Jack Nicholson and Mick Jagger told me 'Don't change a thing.' So, who am I going to listen to: Mick Jagger or some writer for Tennis USA.

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