Bill Scanlon was a former tennis professional that most fans probably only vaguely remember. He was a great player that competed in the shadows of other superstars of the game. His peak ATP ranking was #9 and he once won the NCAA Singles Championship. Scanlon had noteworthy wins over many of those top players and is one of only three players in tour history to win a “golden set.”
The title of his memoir, Bad News for McEnroe: Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas, is an apparent nod to his self-awareness of his own relative obscurity. Scanlon competed during a golden era of the professional tour. His first-hand observations about the impacts of superstars on the sport are currently relevant due to the recent retirements of Roger Federer and Serena Williams.
In the late 1980’s, men’s professional tennis was dominated by players from outside the United States. Scanlon offers one theory on the decline of American success during this time period. The “heroes” of tennis during the formative years of that generation were not great role models. Specifically, Scanlon wonders if parents weren’t excited at the prospect of their children turning out to be like John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors.
To say that there was no love lost between McEnroe and Scanlon, is an understatement. In his own memoir, “You Cannot Be Serious,” McEnroe claimed that he was hurt that Scanlon’s friendship from their time as roommates on the Junior Davis Cup team wasn’t carried forward on the professional tour. However, Scanlon never actually made the Junior Davis Cup team so that is clearly not the reason.
In the spirit of sportsmanship and fairness, Scanlon once asked a chair umpire to reverse point penalties levied against McEnroe during one of their matches. When the request was granted, McEnroe became enraged at Scanlon for “showing him up” and making him look bad. That episode spilled over when they subsequently played another match. McEnroe was fined for “abuse of an opponent” and walked off the court without shaking hands.
Perhaps the greatest value of Scanlon’s memoir is his depth of insight into the business of the tour. That includes observations on how the ATP Tour was founded, the business of running events, and player representation agencies. He points out obvious potential conflicts of interest that seem to pass without comment from others. Bad News for McEnroe is mandatory reading for anyone interested in those topics.
Scanlon effectively describes how big money and players with larger than life personalities were inextricably connected on the professional tour. Those observations are currently relevant as some of the biggest personalities of this era exit the game. Bad News for McEnroe: Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas is one of those books that all tennis fans should read.
 | Bad News for McEnroe: Blood, Sweat, and Backhands with John, Jimmy, Ilie, Ivan, Bjorn, and Vitas |
