"I wasn't particularly successful with girls" - When John McEnroe made honest admission about why he did not have a big ego as a kid

John McEnroe once opened up about why he didn’t develop a massive ego during his childhood and teenage years, which might seem surprising given his later success. He jokingly admitted that one of the reasons was his lack of success with girls, along with a few other factors.

McEnroe was undeniably a great player and one of the best Americans of his generation, but his fiery attitude and ego often took center stage. His on-court brilliance was sometimes overshadowed by fines and suspensions due to frequent outbursts aimed at umpires, line judges, and even opponents.

However, the American wasn’t always this way. In a 2002 interview with The Guardian, he shared that he remained humble growing up for a few reasons—his lack of success with girls, the feeling that he never had much to be "cocky" about, and the fact that tennis wasn’t a particularly popular sport at his high school.

"Nobody will be surprised to hear that number one in the world requires major-league ego. You need ego to get there, and ego to stay there. I have never been short on that quality," John McEnroe said.

He added:

"But when I was a kid, I'd never felt that there was a lot to be cocky about. I wasn't particularly successful with girls, and the sport I was most successful in wasn't one that generated a lot of attention in high school."

John McEnroe explains his controversial on-court attitude

John McEnroe pictured at a press conference | Image Source: Getty

In an old interview with SportsJones, John McEnroe attempted to explain the origins of his fiery on-court persona, which often drew heavy criticism. He compared it to a cigarette addiction—something he did out of habit, even when he didn’t necessarily want to.

McEnroe said:

"Like a cigarette addiction," he said. "It's not really what I'm feeling, I'm just doing it because it's the habit. I'd go out on the court and suddenly I'm doing something and I'd be like, 'Why am I doing this?'"

"The game was so stiff. It felt like everybody's collar was starched, like the next thing they were going to do was ask me to wear long pants. So if there was one thing I wanted to change that was it. It became like this cause for me," he added.

McEnroe won seven Grand Slam titles during his nearly two-decade-long career before retiring in 1994. However, he has remained deeply involved in the sport, taking on roles as a commentator, analyst, and captain of Team World at the Laver Cup.