Life will go once Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal retire, says McEnroe
What happens when Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will stop playing? In an interview to, the seven-time Grand Slam winner John McEnroe said: 'Life will go on. For a while, we have been looking for an American Grand Slam success. The last champion was Andy Roddick in 2003, it means 15 years and it hurts United States sports. American fans love to see Roger and Rafa playing. The excitement would be much greater with a local hero. This is probably the case in every country. It's not definitely the same if Becker wins a big tournament and Kohlschreiber loses in a second round.'
Why are the United States going through a tough time? 'Let's take amazing athletes like Federer in Switzerland or Djokovic in Serbia - they decided to play tennis. In the United States, best athletes choose the football or basketball, stop. Our tennis popularity gets affected when best results are fourth round or quarter-finals. Combine it together, that does not interest anyone. So tennis needs to be more accessible. At schools, the youngest guys play football, that's easier and especially cheaper for schools. It would be useful to include tennis in the schedule, give them rackets, balls and coaches. In particular, training plays an immensely important role in singles sports.'
Asked if there can be a great serve and volleyer again, McEnroe replied: 'Absolutely. In Australia, I was surprised by the fastest surface I ever met. Unbelievable. I would have liked to have it at the time. It helped Roger a lot. He did not exclusively play serve and volley, but it was more aggressive tennis. A serve and volley rally is more fascinating than a rally from the baseline.'
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from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2Bx5U4k
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