Serious: The Autobiography

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Serious is McEnroe's enormously entertaining story of how a shock-haired kid from Queens grew up on the world stage. Who would have thought that John McEnroe would evolve from Grand Slamming superbrat into the most refreshingly candid and authoritative elder statesmen of tennis? He is still kicking over the statues, but with a hard-won wisdom to temper the explosiveness that characterised his oncourt personality.

This book, written in collaboration with James Kaplan, grew out of a New Yorker profile of McEnroe that the journalist wrote a couple of years ago, but for the most part reads like unadulterated SuperMac, unfiltered and straight from the source--who lest we forget was one of the greatest tennis players of the modern era, and a Wimbledon legend.

I don't get tired of such compliments. I feel proud of having earned them. And--I admit it--there's a part of me that's addicted to the attention. It's one reason--I'll also admit this--that I'm writing this book. It's not just to get attention, but to do some serious thinking about how much attention I need, and why I need it.

This openness is occasionally a mixed blessing--there's a touch of the Oprah's about some of his attempts at self-justification--but overall McEnroe "thinking out loud" is as hugely entertaining as you might expect. Forthright opinions on just about everything, from heyday rivalries with the likes of Borg and Conners--through his battles with the tennis establishment and the media (touching on his occasionally tempestuous private life)--to what's wrong with the game today. Ace.--Alex Hankin