"I thought I'd taken the game to another level" - says McEnroe impressed by what the big three did

John McEnroe thought that he had taken tennis to new heights back in the day but he was impressed to see it go even further.

McEnroe was a spectacular tennis player during his time and he thought that his game was the peak of what tennis could be. He was wrong and he got to see it in person about twenty years after that when the big three started to show up on the court.

Speaking ahead of the US Open, McEnroe admitted:

"I said it in 1984 or '85, so it was a while ago, before these other guys Federer Nadal and Djokovic. These guys seem to have gone by me but at that moment my hair was a different color with different times, the end of the wooden racket era, but at that moment I thought I'd taken the game to another level."

Looking back further, McEnroe added:

"Well, six kids later, I'm better than I was. I wouldn't call that my strong suit. I sort of look at things fairly black and white although it ends up being sort of a gray area like when push comes to shove. I mean look at politics, everyone's on one side or the other but it seemed like we'd be better off somewhere in the middle and I think in general that would be better the way to lead life."