Serious : " The Autobiography " - Softcover

John McEnroe

3.76

3,199 ratings by Goodreads

9780316860888: Serious : " The Autobiography "

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0316860883 ISBN 13: 9780316860888

Publisher: Little Brown Books, 2002

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John McEnroe enjoyed tremendous success at all levels of tennis, and he owns 77 career singles titles, including 7 Grand Slams. He joined the circuit in 1978 and it took him only three years to attain the No. 1 ranking. The 1980 Wimbledon final, between McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, is considered by many tennis experts to be the best match ever, a five-set thriller which McEnroe avenged the following year for his first Wimbledon title. In doubles, McEnroe is recognised as the best player of all time. He was ranked No. 1 for a record 257 weeks and captured a total of 74 titles, including 8 Grand Slams. Still an active player, McEnroe is now an outstanding tennis commentator and broadcaster for the BBC and other national networks. This autobiography, his first, covers an awesome tennis career, marriage to movie star Tatum O'Neal and where arguably the greatest tennis player of all time goes from here. This is SERIOUS.

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Review:

Serious is McEnroe's enormously entertaining story of how a shock-haired kid from Queens grew up on the world stage. Who would have thought that John McEnroe would evolve from Grand Slamming superbrat into the most refreshingly candid and authoritative elder statesmen of tennis? He is still kicking over the statues, but with a hard-won wisdom to temper the explosiveness that characterised his oncourt personality.

This book, written in collaboration with James Kaplan, grew out of a New Yorker profile of McEnroe that the journalist wrote a couple of years ago, but for the most part reads like unadulterated SuperMac, unfiltered and straight from the source--who lest we forget was one of the greatest tennis players of the modern era, and a Wimbledon legend.

I don't get tired of such compliments. I feel proud of having earned them. And--I admit it--there's a part of me that's addicted to the attention. It's one reason--I'll also admit this--that I'm writing this book. It's not just to get attention, but to do some serious thinking about how much attention I need, and why I need it.

This openness is occasionally a mixed blessing--there's a touch of the Oprah's about some of his attempts at self-justification--but overall McEnroe "thinking out loud" is as hugely entertaining as you might expect. Forthright opinions on just about everything, from heyday rivalries with the likes of Borg and Conners--through his battles with the tennis establishment and the media (touching on his occasionally tempestuous private life)--to what's wrong with the game today. Ace.--Alex Hankin

Review:

An ace (SUNDAY EXPRESS)

Frank and engrossing (DAILY TELEGRAPH)

McEnroe emerges as a funny, wise and articulate raconteur, acutely aware of his faults (THE TIMES)

A book as straight-talking as the tennis star himself. (SUNDAY TELEGRAPH)

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