10 Questions For John McEnroe

By Frank Gibney

He played, raged and sometimes whacked balls at the officials. John McEnroe has a new autobiography, You Cannot Be Serious (Putnam), and talks with TIME's Frank Gibney about how to fix men's tennis, why he has become a better husband and how he sometimes thinks about going into politics. Mayor Mac?

IS THERE A WAY TO MAKE MEN'S TENNIS MORE INTERESTING? WOODEN RACQUETS? I wish that we had never got away from wood in the first place. But I think that something needs to be done about the serve being the major weapon in the sport. It's less subtle than it used to be.

ARE YOU AND JIMMY CONNORS GOING TO PLAY THE WILLIAMS SISTERS? I don't foresee that. But it worries me that the most interesting thing about tennis now is a singles or doubles match with the Williams sisters.

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF WRITING YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS? The point--God, I'm not sure if there is, like, a point. One reason is that by looking at my past, I'd get a better idea of where I want to go now.

YOU STILL SEEM PRETTY CONFLICTED. DO YOU WISH YOU HAD BEEN NICER, OR FUNNIER? Well, for sure funnier. I think that one of the reasons people relate to me on some level is that they feel like they can see me as a human being, as a husband and a parent.

WHAT WAS YOUR ANGRIEST MOMENT? That would be pretty hard. There's probably times every day where I feel like I lose control.

WHAT'S THE SECRET TO MANAGING ANGER? I try to let off a little steam before it sort of explodes, rather than keep it in.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Well, I'd like to try something a little bit more serious. I still believe it would be nice to have a great tennis academy at Flushing Meadow [where the U.S. Open is played]. And then I kid around about the idea of politics on some level.

SOUNDS LIKE YOU'RE IN A CLASSIC MID-LIFE CRISIS. Something along those lines, yeah. I'd like to have a regular job, so to speak.

YOU TALK ABOUT HAVING CRIED A LOT DURING YOUR DIVORCE FROM TATUM O'NEAL. DO YOU STILL FEEL VULNERABLE? No, but I'm sure I would if something happened with Patty [Smyth, his current wife]. It was a real failing.

SINCE SHE'S THERE WITH YOU, COULD PATTY GIVE YOU A GRADE FOR YOUR DEVELOPMENT? Patty, would you like to give me a grade on my development over the past four years? Yeah, like a school grade. A, B-plus or an A-minus, she says. I don't know where that means I started... What? She said I started at D. I was a good dad, but I guess that was the only thing that kept me from failing.