McEnroe Rejects 'Battle of Sexes' Match

By
Robert Millward
January 7, 2006, 5:19 AM ET
2 min read

L O N D O N, Dec. 5, 2000 -- John McEnroe is insulted by the concept of a“battle of the sexes” match against Venus Williams.

“Do you hear Marion Jones saying she could beat MauriceGreene?” McEnroe said today, referring to the world’s fastestsprinters.

McEnroe, in London for a seniors tournament, was reminded thatDonald Trump had reportedly offered $1 million for him to take onVenus or Serena Williams.

“This is not John McEnroe issuing a challenge,” he said. “Iwouldn’t waste my breath. Many times people have asked me whetherI’d play Venus Williams, Steffi Graf or Martina Navratilova. It’snot something that interests me.

“Sure, Venus Williams is a great woman player, but to insultsomebody by saying I’m an old man or whatever, to get away withsaying that. Anyone who knows anything about tennis wouldn’t dothat.”

One thing’s for certain, however. The 41-year-old McEnroe willface old foe Bjorn Borg in London this week — maybe for the lasttime.

Old Rivalry Still Strong

The two tennis greats meet at the Royal Albert Hall in the HondaChallenge Seniors Tour championship. They are in the sameround-robin group with Mansour Bahrami and John Lloyd.

The other group has former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, FrenchOpen winners Yannick Noah and Mats Wilander, and Henri Leconte.

The highlight of the five-day tournament is the Borg-McEnroemeeting on Friday. Organizers have focused on their epic meetingsat Wimbledon, where the American left-hander ended the Swede’sstreak of five titles in 1980 after losing to Borg the year before.

While Borg said he was winding down his career and would playonly occasionally next year, McEnroe said he still had plenty tooffer tennis — whether on the court or behind a microphone.

In Mac’s Humble Opinion

McEnroe, who quit as captain of the U.S. Davis Cup team twoweeks ago, said he would offer himself as a doubles player butdoesn’t expect to get the call.

“I couldn’t really pick myself when I was captain,” saidMcEnroe, who quit, among other things, because he was frustrated hecouldn’t get stars such as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi to committo the team.

With the United States looking for a new captain, possibly hisbrother Patrick, McEnroe is waiting to see what happens.

“I’m not holding my breath, put it that way,” he said. “But Idon’t see anyone out there who plays a better game of doubles thanI do. I won five Davis Cups and nobody can take that away fromme.”