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Former enfant terrible John McEnroe and his brother run an academy of 650 students. So that his sport is not reserved for the rich.
“Bend the knee well. Square. Then open the racket as an offering, almost resting on the ground. So. Good job! On the wheelwright blue cement courts of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, eight young boys and girls aged 11 to 17 listen, dumbfounded, to their instructor for the day. Because beware, legend: a serve-and-volley lesson by John McEnroe is like a dance lesson by the late Rudolf Nureyev or a dribbling master class by Cristiano Ronaldo. His peers, the tennis glories of the 1980s, often sport a silhouette closer to the bloated creatures of Botero than to the emaciated statuettes à la Modigliani. John McEnroe, he remained slender, sharp.
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At 63, he has also kept the stentorian voice and incandescent temperament that made him famous. “I have a good metabolism. [Rires.] In fact, until recently, I was playing on the circuits of old glories. I wasn’t just going there for fun, but also to put on the best show. And if possible win. It’s always better than losing, right? laughs Big Mac, a sacred tennis monster with his seven Grand Slams won, unforgettable matches against the Swede Björn Borg and biblical shouting matches on the biggest courts on the planet.
For the time being, planted upright on the edge of the courts of his academy, on Randall’s Island, an arm of the river from Manhattan, John McEnroe supervises the training of his proteges, the 650 girls and boys who have come to perfect their skills and, who knows, become professionals. This morning, on the court, Izyan Ahmad alias “Zizou”. At 11, this son of Indian emigrants from Kashmir, the best American player in his age group, sends mines and cinder blocks to two pre-adolescents, peonies, on the verge of apoplexy. “He’s a good guy,” commented John McEnroe. He has been with us since he was… 8 years old. During the day, he trains for three hours and, in the evening, he sleeps at Mom and Dad’s. But he must also remember to breathe. A child must remain a child. »
Jogging on the banks of the East River.
© EVA SAKELLARIDES
Twenty tennis courts, a gymnasium, a restaurant, small administrative buildings, the nursery of champions stretches. It is on this strip of greenery, facing the urban Moloch of 20 million souls, dotted with copses and surrounded by interchanges, that this unique tennis school was established in 2009. “My brother John and I are die-hard New Yorkers, we have that in our blood”, explains, even enthusiastically boiling like his eldest, Patrick McEnroe, who was a good player of the top 50 in the years 1980-1990 with a doubles victory at Roland-Garros. So we decided to create an academy in New York for talented guys and girls who come from poor families. And, believe me, it’s much harder here than elsewhere. »
McEnroe’s thing is not technique. He sees tennis as a game of strategy. Where we put ourselves in the head of the adversary
What has never been said and written about New York, the ultimate city, Promethean and poisonous, a challenge to the order of the world and to the monotonous gods: 690,000 trees, 251 skyscrapers and 10 dollars a ball of vanilla ice cream in SoHo. Everything is bigger, more expensive, harder and more “wow!” than anywhere else. “If you can do it here, then you can do it everywhere”, assure, in the refrain, the local philosophers, Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli. And what goes for the song also goes for tennis. “If you are not the son of a doctor, a trader or a lawyer, it is difficult to finance player training in New York, continues Patrick McEnroe. Including training – three to four hours a day – equipment, travel to line up in tournaments, you need a budget of 50,000 euros per year. In 2009, with the help of their brother Mark, a lawyer, the McEnroes multiplied charity operations, and appeals for donations from ex-sponsors like Nike, to raise the funds necessary for their beautiful purpose.
Serve and volley lesson with a great teacher.
© EVA SAKELLARIDES
It is only in 2019 that they will find the right sponsor, the French bank BNP Paribas, present in tennis for almost fifty years. “I really liked the speech of the McEnroe brothers of the” give back “, to give back to sport and to the city what they gave them”, explains Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA. Glory and consecration obtained, many champions prefer to let go of the reins and let themselves grow “a belly beer” – a beer drinker’s belly. Not John McEnroe. With more than 12 million dollars in a career that ended in 1992, a very nice sum at the time, and nice advertising contracts, he could have cultivated his garden in his villa in Malibu, California. Not his type. In 2022, he still criss-crosses veterans’ tournaments and comments, with his brother Patrick, on Grand Slam tennis matches for ESPN, the BBC, NBC and CBS.
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“Tennis has become stereotyped, assures Big Mac. Technology, I’m thinking especially of snowshoes, and the new rules have loaded the dice. Before, athletes had no say in the face of artists and stylists. They always lost. Today, brute force prevails over the beautiful game. There are too many behemoths sending missiles from the forehand or serve on the circuit. Tennis must reinvent itself in terms of marketing to become exciting again. On the walls of his office, hundreds of barely yellowed photos of his feats of arms, former adversaries like the German Boris Becker, recently imprisoned in London for tax evasion. “It’s terrible what is happening to him, admits, very moved, John McEnroe. I promised myself to go see it when I go to commentate Wimbledon this summer. I will do it. I will go to see him in prison and show him my friendship. »
Big-hearted and eager to pass on his passion, John McEnroe imagined, in New York, a Team Mac 1, ten young people, five boys and five girls with high potential who, thanks to sponsorship, will have the means to realize their dreams and become pros. BNP contributes 500,000 euros to the program each year, or 50,000 euros per child. “In total, our young talent teams help 150 children around the world,” explains Bertrand Cizeau, in charge of engagement at the bank. In France, it is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who is the godfather. »
The master and the next generation: Izyan Ahmad, 11, the best American player in his age group, and Stephanie Yakoff, 16, winner of the Orange Bowl.
© EVA SAKELLARIDES
In the world of tennis business, this initiative stands out. In the United States, especially in Florida, there are a host of academies like IMG (ex-Bollettieri), Chris Evert or Patrick Mouratoglou. These factories for champions recruit talents from all over the world from the age of 10 to 12 and overtrain them to make them stars. In full board, the cost of training can exceed 100,000 euros per year. Some academies even take a percentage of future star earnings in return for pro bono training, as they once did with sisters Venus and Serena Williams.
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Today, brute force prevails over the beautiful game. Tennis must reinvent itself
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At the John McEnroe Tennis Academy, the philosophy is to recruit only disadvantaged, local children, in order to offer them a solid sports training and the possibility of accessing the most prestigious schools. “It’s good to have options,” says Big Mac. He and his brother speak knowingly. Thanks to tennis, they got free admission to Stanford University in California. Example followed by Stephanie (in homage to Steffi Graff) Yakoff, 16, Ultrabrite smile and already structured speech. Her father, a computer technician, drives her every morning after her college lessons. His mother is a life assistant in a hospital. Not enough to pay for a 5-star training for their daughter who nevertheless won the Orange Bowl in Florida, the equivalent of the world junior championship.
“We convinced her parents that with us she was going to find a balance, remembers Patrick McEnroe. In tennis, pressure, stress and even burnout exist from the age of 12. It’s easy to crack. “I have been playing since I was 3 years old, says Stephanie Yakoff. I would like to be pro, of course. But I prefer to secure a future by joining Harvard with a good deal: free education and, in exchange, I represent the university in the interclubs. The youngster hopes to win enough matches and tournaments to play in the US Junior Open this fall. “The fundamentals, the technique… it’s not my thing, continues John McEnroe. I want to feed the kids with my rage to win, my refusal of defeat. I see tennis as a game of chess. You have to be one step ahead, get inside the opponent’s head, anticipate his moves and his tactical changes. »
In the stands of Roland-Garros, with Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA, which funds the school to the tune of 500,000 euros per year.
© Virginie Clavieres / Paris Match
“When we exchange balls with him, he always gives us ‘hard time'”, says, in Franglish, the American-Cameroonian Joseph Oyebog Junior. At 14, this 1.80 meter tall staker who commutes four hours every day to train, has already won junior tournaments against 18-year-old players. “We also learn by losing. The victories of tomorrow are forged in the defeats of today”, continues Izyan Ahmad, the phenomenon of the academy. His mother, Nida, born in India and crazy about tennis, programmed him to be a champion. “I arranged for my caesarean section to take place on June 3, because it is the birthday of Rafael Nadal, my idol, she confides. And from the age of 2, we put him in tennis and football. ” The young ” Zizou ” faces kids of 14 or 15 years to toughen up and has only one fear: ” To measure less than 1.80 meters, once my growth is complete. The storytelling is already ready, ecumenical, Netflix compatible. Hopefully the kid from Wayne, New Jersey will become the first Indian-American to win the US Open. And, above all, the first New Yorker to be a prophet on his land since 1984 and a certain… John McEnroe.