It’s never easy reinventing yourself, whether you’re a simple garlic bread factory working looking for a new direction or a former sportsman looking back on your career, but it’s undoubtedly all the more difficult when you’re such a legendary champion like John McEnroe. In his upcoming new autobiography, But Seriously, he’s getting set to give us a little window into his more recent career in tennis as the outspoken tennis commentator and pundit for big ticket events like Wimbledon.
Due for a release date on hardback and digital download on the 16th June 2016, it’s timed to perfection ahead of Wimbledon in July next year, so it should be well placed to pick up some serious sales figures. It follows on from his previous bestselling autobiography, You Cannot Be Serious, which covered the epic wins and thunderous on-court rants of his playing career, so we’re expecting a different perspective on his life, career and opinions about tennis as a competitive sport in his new book.
John McEnroe is easily the most colourful character in the history of tennis, if not any competitive sport, and his contentious outlook and unabashed opinionated spirit can be as annoying as it is positively challenging as on of the main BBC pundits for the sport. However, he’s still a much-loved personality and whether you find yourself questioning his views or thinking how positive it is that he says it like it is you can’t deny his knowledge and understanding of the sport. Admittedly, he does occasionally go a bit off track and out of bounds every now and again, but at least he isn’t boring.
Getting older is tough and you’re always going to regret not being able to do everything you used to be able to do, like finding your car in the car park or winning a tennis open tournament (each to their own McEnroe!), but in John’s case he’s just found something else to smash the ever loving rubber, wool and nylon out of. It’s his newfound sphere of influence as a commentator, writer and senior tennis champ that But Seriously turns to, giving us a flavour for how you keep on trucking when the pro sport career comes to an end. If there isn’t something at least vaguely inspirational in that we’ll be very surprised.
However, it’s not just his inner monologue on taking a new direction in life that the book covers, as it will also be an unfettered opportunity for him to wax lyrical on his views on the modern game and the big names that grace it. While it’s probably too much to ask for him to confess his unrequited love for Sue Barker or that he also thinks that Novak Djokovic is an alien cyborg sent back from the future to dominate men’s singles, there should still be a fair few eye opening admissions, expletives and insight to look forward to.
The book will also cover some of the lesser known activity of John McEnroe’s life post retirement from a career that saw him win seven grand slam singles tournament and five Davis Cup wins with team USA during the late seventies and early eighties. Since then he’s had time to work on his champion dad skills, continue his ace passion for American contemporary art and smash out TV show cameos on 30 Rock and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Add to all that the fact that he’s still the only tennis player with his own catch phrase and you’ve got a lot to take in when But Seriously arrive next summer.
