Former Tennis player gives sound advice for youth who are interesting with playing tennis

With a brand new and bigger than ever deal with ESPN, Wimbledon is just around the corner. Dedicated to showing as much coverage as possible, ESPN is about to launch a 250 hour plus coverage of the tennis grand slam with coverage by an all-star team of presenters. Amongst those are tennis legends, John McEnroe and Chris Evert.

During a buildup press event, Chris highlighted how difficult winning the tournament is and discussed the fact that, compared to her time as a professional tennis champion, tennis players now must train harder than ever. McEnroe discussed the fact that awareness of the game and competition is crucial in preparing for any tournament and discussed the idea that the men’s competition is “faster and harder” than even 5 years ago.

The excitement among the team was palpable and the discussion around what it takes to be a champion was widely discussed with focus on the great rivalries of all time and how they compare to the competitors now.

John McEnroe’s famous catchphrase “You CANNOT be serious” looks to be a thing of the past with the introduction of electronic line calling at Wimbledon this year. McEnroe seemed positive about the changes but did point out that the fans and players may miss the interactions between players and umpires and that it must be accurate. In good spirits he joked that “maybe his hair wouldn’t be as white” if they’d had the help of electronics when he played.

Speaking to young people interested in getting into sport, both pros agreed that you must have good coaching but financially that could be difficult so making sure you play as much as possible in school. Evert pointed out that to be successful in any sport “you have to be hungry.”

When asked by our team about the ultimate opponents that each of the panel did not get to play, McEnroe said he would have loved to face Roger Federer at Wimbledon, but his nightmare would have been Rafael Nadal at the French Open. Chris claimed Serena Williams would have been a dream opponent if only to experience how hard she hits the ball.

Closing out the press conference, the panel gave an insight into how excited they are for the hours of tennis ahead this summer.