This year’s Wimbledon champions may be at the top of the game, but they aren’t exactly household names. At a time when professional athletes carefully curate their public images, less is known about their private lives. That wasn’t true of the generations of stars that came before them, like John McEnroe, whose personality showed heavily on the court.
Tennis fans know McEnroe not just as a sports commentator today but as a champion tennis player of the 1970s and ‘80s, who challenged umpire decisions he disagreed with. He’s famously known for screaming “You cannot be serious!” after a controversial call at Wimbledon. McEnroe had a long rivalry with the captivating Swede Bjorn Borg, who made women swoon just by showing up.
He was quiet and focused, the opposite of McEnroe personality-wise on the court. Their stories are both featured in Gods of Tennis , a three-part documentary series premiering on PBS July 23. “There is something about their natural ability, the general sort of pantomime and performance that maybe you get occasionally nowadays,” series director Simon Draper told Morning Edition about why some players are remembered more than others.
“But then it was just this intoxicating mixture of excitement and tennis. And then this personality that might at any minute just explode.” The series also explores the rivalry between Chris Evert, whose grace and beauty on the court made her America’s sweetheart, and Martina Navratilova, a more physical pla.