"Tennis is such an international sport so for professional tennis to get back up and running, essentially this has got to be under control in the entire world and not just in the US"
Thursday 9 April 2020 18:07, UK
In the second part of an exclusive interview with Patrick McEnroe, the former US Davis Cup captain catches up Sky Sports' Raz Mirza. He talks about the US Open, Wimbledon cancellation, how his brother Johnny Mac is getting on and the Laver Cup clashing with the French Open.
McEnroe, who reached a career-high ranking of 28 before retiring in 1998, believes the coronavirus pandemic will put an end to hopes of staging this year's US Open at Flushing Meadows.
The tournament is slated from August 24 to September 13 in New York but right now the Billie Jean King Tennis Center facilities have been converted into a hospital to deal with the emergency which is sweeping through the city.
With preparations due to begin weeks in advance of qualification, McEnroe senses all might not be sitting well with organisers, who will be desperate for the show to go ahead on time.
In tennis, you have players, media and fans coming from all over the world for these big tournaments so unless all of that is under control, it will be very hard to put the event on.
"Oh, I think it definitely might be cancelled," he said. "I mean, I don't have any inside information other than seeing what's happening around the world and in New York.
"The hard thing about tennis and professional tennis especially is it is such an international sport so for professional tennis to get back up and running, essentially this has got to be under control in the entire world and not just in the US.
"At the moment, they're talking about playing Major League Baseball (MLB) which is not easy but it's a little bit more possible to manage that because you're within one country. In tennis, you have players, media and fans coming from all over the world for these big tournaments, so unless all of that is under control, it will be very hard to put the event on.
"They start ramping up preparations almost right when the French Open starts so there is a lot of work that needs to be done to get the facility up and ready for the qualifying and then the main draw. You can't just switch a button to get it ready because it takes months of preparation."
Should the US Open go ahead then players will only have one week to travel and prepare to play on clay at the French Open which begins on September 20 after the French Tennis Federation (FFT) moved the tournament from its May 24 start date.
Organisers have received a lot of negativity for moving the major Grand Slam without meeting with the ATP, WTA and Grand Slams. McEnroe believes Roland Garros simply "hit the panic button".
"They realised in Paris that they had a lot of construction to get the stadium ready so that had to stop because of their shutdown and I think they became aware pretty quickly, even if this virus had passed, and for whatever reason moved the tournament," he said.
"This has unfortunately shown us one of the issues in professional tennis. There are so many different entities which are problematic, but I think they're feeling that they probably did that a little quicker than they probably should have. Wimbledon did all the right things in terms of communicating with the players, with the respective tours and the other majors and that's the right thing to do.
"For me, I don't think switching surfaces is such a huge deal. I just hope that tennis is back. Forgetting the politics of how they did it in pi**ing everybody off, I think that if we can play big tournament after big tournament, I'd sign up for that.
"From my experience it's not that difficult for us professional players to make the transition from surface to surface. If it does happen, then it would be a good problem to have for tennis."
Wimbledon, which draws some of the world's biggest celebrities and tennis fans each year, had been expected to generate in the region of £250m in revenue this year from ticket sales, broadcasting rights, sponsorships and more, while it has a £34m prize fund.
Although it was cancelled for the first time since World War Two, organisers are set to recoup their losses thanks to a pandemic insurance policy it has in place.
They have the tradition which we all respect, but they've also managed to be very progressive in the way they showcase the tournament and take care of the media and the fans.
McEnroe is not in the least bit surprised, saying: "We all know Wimbledon like to dot the i's and cross the t's on everything. That's why it's such a spectacular event.
"One of the things I'm going to miss about being at Wimbledon is that we have the luxury of being there in the morning before the fans get in. I always love to walk around the grounds and see the crew working on the court, meticulously preparing everything. They really do it right.
"They have the tradition which we all respect, but they've also managed to be very progressive in the way they showcase the tournament and take care of the media and the fans so I'm not surprised that they have this insurance policy."
The 53-year-old also spoke about where exactly Roger Federer's brainchild, the Laver Cup, fits in. It's currently set to go ahead from 25-27 September, which clashes directly with Roland Garros.
John McEnroe, a seven-time Grand Slam winner, and Patrick are captain and vice-captain of the World Team.
"I actually did a webinar with John for the kids at our tennis academy a couple of days ago," said Patrick. "He's with his family out in California and by the way he's got a full beard now. But the reason I mention it was because he was wearing his Laver Cup t-shirt.
"We haven't spoken directly about that other than just to say 'can you believe what the French officials did?'. We have a contract to do the Laver Cup but he also has a contract to call the French Open with the Europeans and NBC. Maybe I'll have to be at the Laver Cup without him.
"Nobody cares about what we're going to do, but they will want to know what Roger Federer will do. Initially, he was planning on playing at the French Open, so who knows. Good problems to have if it actually happens."
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