McEnroe on Gilbert...

[newnuse]

Ironchef....love that show, the JPN version. Ironchef Japanese with his intense stare is my favorite.

Mac was always a huge Davis Cup guy. This was pretty rare even during his playing days. Now it's a joke.

I'm sure for a great player like Mac, who put so much into the Davis Cup, playing for country, it must kills him to see guys not give a hoot about the cup.

[Moose Malloy]

I think close to about 10 times as much at the GSs) than they did in the 80s.

That's pretty close:

1985 Australian Open Champ-100,000
1985 French-146,250
1985 Wimbledon-163,799
1985 US Open-187,500

2005 US Open Champ-1,100,000
2006 AO Champ-922,560
2006 French-1,196,700
2006 Wimbledon-1,190,725

Checkout the all time prizemoney list.

Mac is only 15th.

I'd like to see that adjusted for inflation. Lendl & Mac would probably be top 2/3.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by emcee

But Mac is the biggest hyprocite in the world and just a despicable person in general.

Exactly. Just because he played Davis Cup does not make him a better person. He is all about ego, gamesmanship, putting down others, and money. Much worse than any player today.

[Volly master]

Mac also knew that representing your country is one of the best honors ever and he realized that.

In his eyes, guys were only doing it for a little payday instead of fighting for your country no matter what the cause.

[travlerajm]

Originally Posted by adely

Also, I did not observe McEnroe donating any of his winner's cheques to charity.

He paid for that nice covered bleachers section overlooking the showcourt at the Stanford tennis courts. That cost a nice hunk of change, and he didn't even graduate.

[arnz]

Mac always speaks his mind, when sometimes he should shut the hell up.

I did not find any humor at all in the Ted Robinson thing. As someone said, donating money should be a private matter, and it should be done at one's discretion. It left a bad taste in my mouth when I saw that. Ted probably spoke to him afterwards about it (hopefully)

And Mac saying he would drop his pants and walk around in his underwear if Michael Chang got past the 2nd round (or something like that) of Wimbledon, is another classless statement. He didnt have to put it like that.

Oh well

[Captain America]

I think you could spend a lot of time discussing the flaws of both Mac and Gilbert, but the truth is that tennis is MUCH better off having them both around doing their respective schtiks.

It does seem like Gilbert has done a masterful job of getting under Mac's skin over the years though...

[slice bh compliment]

Originally Posted by Moose Malloy

Actually Gilbert was very frank about how he was in it for the money. You should read some of his press conferences transcripts(asapsports.com).

Whenever he did well in a tournament, he would say how glad he was to make x amount of money(the guy could recite the exact prize money breakdown of every event he was playing, per round)

When he made his (only) GS QF at W in 1990, he was asked how it felt to finally make this breakthrough, he said "its great to make 48,700 grand, I'm looking forward to making the semis, so I can make 83,200 grand this event."
Very strange guy.

And we see how obsessed he is with $, with this whole Murray thing. Murray can't afford his salary so the LTA is chipping in. The only reason he went with Roddick a few years ago is that Roddick could afford his salary. He would never have considered Dent, Ginepri, Fish, because they can't afford him.

Most players enjoyed representing their country for the honor(like McEnroe). Mac was just saying what everyone thought, that Gilbert was more happy about the $ for playing Davis Cup than the honor.

Great post, Moose. Especially that 4th paragraph.

[wimble10]

Originally Posted by The Pusher Terminator

"I have more talent in my pinky than Gilbert has in his whole body. ."

I think that is what McEnroe said about Lendl, and I didn't think he said it about Gilbert.

[OrangeOne]

Originally Posted by adely

Not everyone was blessed with the talent of McEnroe so guys like Gilbert had to do everything they could to maximize their career because they weren't exactly 'set up for life'.

I know where you're going there, but I have to disagree with the "not setup for life" comment.

According to atptennis.com, Brad won a total career prizemoney of $5,509,060 in a 'career' spanning about 20 years. Most people don't earn 5.5 mill in their lifetime (in fact, most don't earn close to half-that), and he earned it in less than half of a career, so I'm thinking he's setup for life.

And, that prizemoney doesn't include endorsements (ok, so he wouldn't have had agassi-level-ones, but he would still have been able to cover many of his expenses with them), appearance fees (ok, so not many - but then again he was top-ten for a while) or demonstration matches (probably some money there too).

[Woodstock_Tennis]

I think calling McEnroe a despicable person is overboard. I think he actually makes a good point about Gilbert. Mac wasn’t afraid to be whom he was while on the court, he spoke his mind, and lives life not caring what others thinks of him. The thing is when it comes to things important; playing for country, philanthropy, and even that Katrina incident Mac always stepped up.

Moments like these define a person’s character, what McEnroe said is true, Gilbert obviously cared more about personal monetary success then playing for pride or the love of the game. I’m not saying if this is necessarily a bad thing. I just wish someone would kick Gilbert in the head every time he wears a black suit with a huge red hacker chief in 100+ degree weather.

[austro]

Gilbert is a moron, through and through. I could make a more differentiated argument but it really comes down to that.

McEnroe can have an assinine attitude at times but at least he has the game to back it up.

[The Pusher Terminator]

Originally Posted by wimble10

I think that is what McEnroe said about Lendl, and I didn't think he said it about Gilbert.

wanna bet?

[Dedans Penthouse]

According to Howard Cosell:

There was a group who guaranteed $1,000,000 to Bjorn Borg and $1,000,000 for John Patrick McEnroe to play an exhibition match at Sun City, South Africa. This was when apartheid was still in place. Borg accepted the offer; McEnroe did not, partly out of the result of his own personal convictions about the evil of apartheid and partly out of respect to Arthur Ashe. Further, on the date the match was to take place in South Africa, McEnroe instead headed out west to appear (as a favor to fellow pro Harold Solomon) at a "World Hunger" type charity event that Solomon was hosting out in Colorado. Cosell went on to say that McEnroe cut a personal check for $15,000 and gave it to the charity.

[Rabbit]

Well I have to chime in as well. McEnroe was here playing an exhibition against a guy here who used to be on the tour. It was a benefit for a non-profit disabled group. McEnroe was paid $50K for the match. One of the crowd purchased one of McEnroe's rackets and McEnroe asked him how much he paid. The guy said that was none of McEnroe's business. McEnroe replied "OK, I was going to double whatever you paid and give it to your charity but that's fine." I think he was serious.

[wimble10]

Originally Posted by The Pusher Terminator

wanna bet?

" The biggest mistake McEnroe made was saying that he had more talent in his little pinky than Lendl had in his whole body.

From virtually this point onward, Lendl thrashed the living f..ck out of McEnroe; he played out of his mind. Following these matches, Lendl was asked about his performances — but he simply shrugged his shoulders, like it was no big deal. He always acted like he had only played mediocre tennis to CRUSH McEnroe. It was beneath him to even acknowledge his great performances.

This was extremely funny to see, actually. He twisted up Jonny Mac, big time. "