John McEnroe has been able to keep close tabs on women’s tennis following his retirement from the sport thanks to his commentary duties.
McEnroe has been a regular fixture at various tournaments over the years since hanging up his racket, having enjoyed a stunning career on the court.
His fantastic achievements include seven Grand Slam singles titles and a rise to number one in the world rankings.
But the legendary figure has now shared his verdict on the women’s game, having been asked to name his Mount Rushmore of female tennis players.
Who would be on your Mount Rushmore of tennis players?
John McEnroe picks his Mount Rushmore of female tennis players
McEnroe told Rushmore: “I would definitely put Serena [Williams] on there. I mean, in addition to the serve being the greatest serve in the history of women’s tennis and one of the greatest servers period, she’s one of the greatest competitors period.
“One of the all-time greatest athletes, male or female, of the last 100 years. And in addition to that, the heart, that will.
“Very intimidating in so many different ways. I could see how difficult it would be to have to play against her.”
He continued: “The next person would be Steffi Graf, who I consider possibly as good as or better athletically as anyone I’ve ever seen in a man or woman in the sport of tennis. Unbelievable.
“We actually played mixed doubles once. That’s a whole other story. But we did practice when we were both sort of at our best, and she was great in practice. The focus was there, the athleticism, intensity.
“She’s got a lot of those attributes that Serena had, but you need in order to have the type of success they had. 24 majors, 22 majors, that’s just singles.”
McEnroe added: “My third is Billie Jean King. Because I think single-handedly out of the last 100 years she’s done more for women’s sports than any person on the planet.
“And also she’s an incredible tennis player. And in addition to that, the Battle of the Sexes. Just the combination of her talent and her drive to make women treated equally.”
He concluded: “Martina Navratilova would be my fourth pick. Not only because she was a fellow lefty, but because she was an incredible player.
“I believe the same amount of singles majors as Chrissie Evert. They played 80 times, which is unheard of. I believe that Martina had an edge, 43-37.
“I chose her because, even though I love Chrissie, Martina when she came into the sport, she had to defect and leave at like 16/18 years old, leave her family and suddenly she’s on her own.
“In addition to that, which is tough enough and to try to be the best player in the world, to play the Chris Everts of the world, she lost all her sponsorships because she came out and said she was gay.
“So she lost all that, but she continued to forge ahead. Lost all her sponsorships and everything, and people looking at her, that to me is extremely difficult to do.”
Who is the greatest women’s tennis player of all time?
John McEnroe suggests Aryna Sabalenka could join women’s Mount Rushmore
McEnroe was also tasked with discussing the current generation of WTA players, which includes the likes of Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
Asked if he thinks there are any current players who would make the list if it was made 10 years from now, he said: “Yeah.
I would say that there’s certainly an argument if Sabalenka keeps moving along at the pace she has the last couple years.
“And also Rybakina to me has got the best serve I’ve ever seen other than Serena.”
It is again a fair assessment from McEnroe, with Sabalenka the current world number one, while Rybakina has been far and away the best WTA server in recent times.
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