John McEnroe was known for his outbursts on the court, and Ilie Nastase recalled how angry the American became after he deliberately set out to frustrate him at the 1979 US Open.
Many young fans do not remember McEnroe playing and know him best as a commentator and analyst who entertains with his passionate and honest remarks before, during, and after matches.
McEnroe recently chose a moment he called 'unexpected' as the greatest moment of Novak Djokovic's career. Djokovic's incredible list of accomplishments meant picking one achievement must have been different.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion was also Team World's captain from 2017 until the most recent edition of the event in September. Under McEnroe's guidance, Team World won the Laver Cup in 2022 and 2023.
McEnroe's great rival during his career, Bjorn Borg, was Team Europe's captain. When the Laver Cup is next played in 2025, the duo will be replaced by Andre Agassi and Yannick Noah, respectively.
As captain, McEnroe reigned in the heated tirades he often engaged in toward umpires during his playing career. Some of the 65-year-old's outbursts became legendary, such as when he yelled, "You cannot be serious!" at the 1981 Wimbledon Championships.
Ilie Nastase, who won the French Open in 1973, felt McEnroe's rage during their 1979 US Open second round. The Romanian, who was 33 at the time, recalled on the The Tennis Legend Podcast how McEnroe swore at him for deliberately slowing play.
"He called me, 'Son of a b***h.' And I replied, 'Mister son of a b***h.' It was in 1979. I was 33 years old. I wanted to annoy him. I started walking slowly, wasting time. The umpire asked me, 'Are you hurt?' I said, 'No, I’m just walking slowly because I’m old."
Eventually, the umpire disqualified Nastase at McEnroe's request due to his antics, but the 78-year-old said that led to fury among the spectators who had paid their money to come and watch the match.
"McEnroe was getting angry and he asked the umpire to penalize me. The umpire then disqualified me. The stadium was full, there were 15,000 spectators. They started coming down because they wanted refunds. Suddenly, the police came onto the court. The umpire was Frank Hammond, a good umpire and he called the head referee."
The head referee eventually decided to restart the match because of the chaos in the crowd. Although McEnroe was unhappy with that decision, he ultimately defeated Nastase in four sets.
Surprisingly, McEnroe and Nastase's relationship became somewhat cordial after the match. The former French Open champion said the pair met in McDonald's afterward and ended up having a beer at the same table.
"When we finished, it was 1:00 am. I decided to go to McDonald’s with a friend. When I walked in, McEnroe was there with two girls, his girlfriend and another girl. We sat two meters away from him. We drank a beer and eventually ended up at the same table. That’s how it ended."
That is an amusing end to a story that took place at the very start of McEnroe's career before he had won any of his seven Grand Slam singles titles.
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