yes, he's a possible GOAT
Woodbridge was an excellent doubles player and in the annuls of tennis history, probably the second best player in the open era. And while I don’t mind counting major titles as a barometer of greatness ( his 22 majors is certainly a staggering number ) I still believe McEnroe is a superior player.
At his best, John’s serve was considered the best in the sport. In fact, a match’s outcome largely hinged on his first serve percentage. That’s what Connors thought, that’s what Borg thought and that’s what Lendl and Wilander thought – it’s what anyone thought. The general consensus was before he blew a gasket in 85 matches were his to win or loose. In fact, most post-match interviews from the matches prior sounded the same - when asked how they thought they’d do against Mac they’d all same the same thing, “ It depends on how John serves.”
If his percentage was high, in all likelihood the match was his. And high was considered over 60%. This was the case in singles and it was especially the case in doubles, particularly if he was matched with a power volleyer like Peter Flemming and later on Michael Stich or Pete Sampras. His curling, deceptive serve was meant to force weak replies in any dynamic on a tennis court.
John’s volley is John’s volley. There’s no point in rehashing a legend we all know so well. He protected his serve, he protected his partner’s serve and he challenge his opponents with it when they were serving. And while just covering half the court, he hands seemed that much better probably because he never seemed to bizarrely miss the occasional easy volley – something that would present itself in his singles play. But for the sake of efficiency, there really isn’t a lot more that can said about his netplay.
Despite this, there have been many great doubles players with amazing serves and incredible volleys. And I’m certainly not going to say Woodbridge lacked anything on the volley but what truly separate Mac from everyone else was his doubles ground game.
John’s ad court return was a thing of beauty. The mechanics are based on his numbers game – you had better hit an amazing serve because he was going to get it back into play. And he’d get more back in play then just about anyone. He could tag it for a winner, using his short strokes to hit flat laser beams to bisect his opponents or make them see what a down the line blast really looked like. Or he could chip it, roll it or slap at your feet better than anyone who ever played with a quartet on one court. Coming in behind John’s return meant you were definitely volleying and most likely you’d be volleying up. Or perhaps he chipped-n’-charged himself ( or did John’s special bunt-n’-run play ) in which case you’d mostly have to volley when you’re serving, volley up and have John McEnore at the net waiting for the ball. And he was not always nice when he was up there.
Of course John didn’t always have to go in because he had the most devastating passing shot in the modern era. With his feel, anticipation and stroke mechanics John could place that ball just about anywhere. And like a good thinker he’d set up his offense and make you figure out how to beat it. For the record, no one ever could. Take his forehand for instance, it was base on a severe dip cross-court to the Ad player’s left – one that so seemed to favor the continent forehand. It dropped so quickly beneath the net that it was either a an outright winner or the player had to volley up to John’s partner already planted in the forecourt. And it was slow too, a methodical, evil trajectory that players could only watch in pain.
Once that shot was established, that player had to take a step to their left and forward to try to cover leaving John to be able to slap it flat between the two. One that happens, the deuce court player has to cover the center more leaving it possible for John to crunch a winner up the line. And all of this could be executed with a flick of a wrist on a racket strung so loosely the ball seemed stay on it forever. So with three possible ways to hit a winner, John could not only threaten to just put a ball on his opponents toes he also had one of the evilest running topspin lops ever. There was no way to see it coming especially after establishing an offense that made his opponents put their tongues over the net as a counter-strategy.
Of course there’s a whole lot more to doubles than this but who out there could clearly out-move or out-anticipate Mac on the doubles court? And better court-sense and touch simply did not exist in his prime. Woodbridge was exemplary on the doubles court and did things amazingly well (so did Stolle, Roche, McMillian, Edberg, Kafelnikov, Laver, Newcombe, etc.), Mac just did more things – the total package of things on the doubles court - equally if not slightly better. (Note: for the record, it was hinted to me on many occasions that McEnroe performed more consistently on the doubles court than Laver but I’m too young to know that to be true or not.) And if you consider what John’s career would be like if he devoted it primarily to doubles like Woodbridge it’s a bit scary to think what his title count might have been – although we shouldn’t forget Woodbridge’s impressive runs at Wimbeldon. Hell, if McEnroe and Graf wanted to make a run at Wimbeldon this year they probably could do it ( saw her play that exhibition and she looked amazing).
Is John the greatest doubles player? My answer, he’s the best I’ve ever seen and I’m in my mid-30’s. But does this qualify him as the GOAT contender? Absolutely. McEnroe 84 could take at least 4 out of 10 matches against anyone in history especially on a neutral hard-court. That might be a bold statement but I’m not so young as to not know just how mentally strong and complete he was at his peak. The game could not be played more intuitively, intelligently or obstinately. And it certainly couldn’t be played more artistically. And when placed him on a court with four people, no matter what the dynamic, he immediately becomes the favorite. The same can’t be said for Sampras, Federer, Nadal, Agassi, Lendl, Connors, Borg and many more.
