John McEnroe enjoyed a legendary career on the ATP Tour.
The American, known for his boisterous personality on the court, won an Open Era record of 155 titles, including 77 in singles, 77 in doubles and one in mixed doubles.
Seven of his singles titles were captured at Grand Slams, with McEnroe winning Wimbledon three times and the US Open four times.
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Though he remains a great of the game, the 67-year-old does not think he would have much joy against the modern-day stars.
John McEnroe compares himself to modern-day tennis players
Speaking in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg,’ McEnroe said: “You always think about what you would do against the top players. The equipment is so different it’s hard to think about it.
“The strategy and the way we were taught as compared to the way they are taught now is so different. It would not be like I would be serving and volleying all the time.
“Before Agassi came, Jimmy Connors was the best returner I had ever played, and then all of a sudden I started playing Agassi and he was so aggressive on his returns, more than anyone I had ever seen. That has changed so much.
“The way the players hit the ball so hard with the equipment it’s almost impossible to serve and volley all the time.
You can bring one tennis legend out of retirement. Who do you pick and why?
“You have to figure where would I fit in? How would I handle this? I feel like you need to have everything. I was taught well in terms of the style of play and the feel of the ball, but you need to be able to hit well enough to do some damage.
“I would love to have grown up and have proper coaching. I would love to have test myself. I don’t know how well I would have done.
“Out of 10, I would hopefully have won three or four against these top guys, like the Federer’s, Nadal’s and Djokovic. Now it’s Alcaraz and Sinner.
“They have certain advantages in terms of knowing what needs to be done more than we did before. I would like to think I would do okay, not that great, but okay.”
John McEnroe’s head-to-head record against Pete Sampras
Though McEnroe did his best work in the 80s, he did feature on the tour in the 90s, where he came up against a then-dominant Pete Sampras.
Sampras and McEnroe had their careers cross paths for the first time in 1990 at the Canadian Open.
There, Sampras won in three sets to advance to the semifinals of the tournament, and went on to meet McEnroe again later that summer at the US Open.
Sampras came out on top in four sets in the semifinals of the 1990 US Open against McEnroe, before beating Andre Agassi in the final to claim his first major title.
The last time McEnroe and Sampras faced off was in Philadelphia during the 1991 season, with the latter winning again to take a 3-0 lead in the head-to-head.
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