Tennis Legend, 66, Makes Bold Admission About His Life Falling Apart
Tennis legend John McEnroe, 66, is pulling no punches when discussing his legendary temper tantrums, and the simultaneous end to his marriage and professional tennis career. In a conversation with In Depth with Graham Bensinger host Graham Bensinger, McEnroe gets real about the collapse of everything he loved.With a tennis court as a backdrop, McEnroe and Bensinger sat down for an emotional conversation about retiring from tennis in 1992 at the same time his marriage to actress Tatum O'Neal collapsed.
The iconic athlete and commentator said, 'I [was] losing a part of my identity, which was tennis, or so I thought. It turns out I was still a lot more involved than I thought I would be at the time. What I basically thought I was stopping for in a way was so to allow my ex-wife to sort of have the opportunity to go out and do her thing. And then take care of the kids which I thought, 'Hey that's not a bad thing. They're young and that would be a good thing.' So then to have neither one of those things, the end of the marriage and the end of the career, that was a lot to handle. That seemed a bit overwhelming.'
Bensinger continues to probe, asking McEnroe about the emotional end to his professional tennis career. McEnroe said, 'I shouldn't have been on the court. I felt like I was sort of obligated to sort of finish. I mean I guess I didn't have to. I guess I was lucky in a way that they—I played with my brother so, you know, I had some support systems. Patrick was with me. Davis Cup meant a lot to me around that time because I was around people that are supporting me, and my kids were there, and so I was at least getting by—by the skin of my teeth.'
McEnroe later went on to marry rocker Patty Smyth in 1997. The couple shares two daughters together. McEnroe also has three children with O'Neal, and Smyth has a daughter from her previous marriage.Since his retirement from tennis in 1992, McEnroe stepped into the broadcast booth as a commentator for ESPN. His often controversial takes are as legendary as the game-day tantrums he was known for as a professional athlete.
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Tennis Legend, 66, Makes Bold Admission About His Life Falling Apart first appeared on Parade on Jul 16, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 16, 2025, where it first appeared.
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