Tennis: McEnroe “expected to beat everyone”

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - If tennis could ever get wild, watch out tonight

when headliner John McEnroe plays local favorite Scott Davis.

When Davis takes the court tonight at 7 o’clock against McEnroe, about

20 of his closest tennis supporters will be in the crowd at Newport Beach

Tennis Club as Davis makes his debut on the Success Magazine Champions

Tour.

“It’s going to be crazy,” Davis, the director of tennis at Newport

Beach Tennis Club, said following Wednesday’s press conference.

McEnroe did not attend the press conference, but he said on the

telephone Wednesday afternoon from his Malibu home that “if I’m going out

and playing well, (Davis) is in a whole lot of trouble ... if I’m ready,

I’m confident I’ll come out on top, and if I’m not ready, I’ll just try

another way to win.”

McEnroe, whose marquee tag carries the worldwide men’s senior tennis

circuit, hasn’t played since winning at Naples, Fla., in March. It was

McEnroe’s 10th Champions Tour final in 11 events during the 2000-01

season. He’s the only player ever to receive the tour’s Player of the

Year honor.

“John McEnroe in my opinion is the most talented player on the tennis

court and I believe he could win on the regular tour (the Association of

Tennis Professionals Tour) if he wanted to,” Pat Cash said. “There’s no

disgrace in losing to McEnroe.”

McEnroe, 42, said raising six children keeps him too busy to consider

getting in the type of physical condition required to compete on the ATP

Tour.

“Sure, on some good days, I could probably beat some (on the ATP

Tour), but on some bad days I could lose to a lot of players,” said

McEnroe, who played in Newport Beach three years in The Challenge, which

also featured Jimmy Connors and was held at the Palisades Tennis Club.

McEnroe figures Davis will receive plenty of crowd support tonight and

he’ll probably be viewed as an underdog, but the circumstances “also

might put extra pressure on him,” the four-time U.S. Open champion said.

McEnroe, who also won three Wimbledon titles, said he’s “expected to

beat everyone when I play on (the senior) tour,” and whether it’s Davis

or Yannick Noah, who McEnroe plays Friday at 7 p.m. in the round-robin

singles and doubles tournament, it doesn’t matter.

“If I let (Davis) get confident and think he’s in the match, then who

knows?” said McEnroe, who arrived in Los Angeles on Monday for a

commercial shoot.

Earlier in the day, Davis introduced all the players in the field this

week (the final is Sunday at 1 p.m.) at the press conference, then took a

friendly jab at McEnroe.

When Davis introduced Britain’s John Lloyd, who opened the event

Wednesday night against Guillermo Vilas, he said: “Gladly, John Lloyd got

here today, as opposed to another John.”

That prompted someone from the back of the room to yell, “And who are

you playing tomorrow night?”

For Davis, he’s playing his first singles tournament since November

1999 at the Top Gun in Huntington Beach, a local charity event, so it’s

clear his opponents who are match tough will have an advantage. “To a

large degree,” Davis said.

“I don’t have high expectations. Whatever happens, happens. I just

want to play well and hit some good shots.”