John McEnroe was the revelation of 1977. He was the second American junior behind Larry Gottfried—Brian's younger brother—before his first great trip to Europe, and in the space of a few weeks became one of the best players in the world. His great achievement took place at Wimbledon. Since he was not classed—far from it—among the 150 best world players, he had to play in the qualifying rounds at Roehampton.

It was already a great performance for a junior to qualify for the Wimbledon championship. However, he did not stop there on his road to success, since he reached the semi-finals of the tournament, after having beaten, in the following order: El Shafei, Dowdeswell, Meiller, Sandy Mayer and Phil Dent, before losing to Jimmy Connors. No player who had come through the qualifying rounds had managed such a long run before.

Before he came to London, John McEnroe had already made a powerful impression in Paris where, having also fought his way through the qualifying rounds, he was beaten in the second round in five sets by Phil Dent after a terrific battle which revealed his extraordinary psychological, physical and technical strength. Besides the junior singles which he won easily, he also won the mixed doubles with his "old" childhood friend Mary Carillo.

After Paris and Wimbledon, his opponents learned not to underestimate this young man who was often irascible on the court despite the face of a chubby-cheeked baby. Less remarkable than in Europe, McEnroe, however, reached the round before the quarter-finals in Forest Hills by beating, amongst others in particular, Gildemeister and Dibbs, the quarterfinalists in San Francisco.

During the winter of 1977-1978, he devoted himself to his law studies. He finally opted for professional tennis in June 1978, and was outstanding in the victory of the USA over Great Britain in the final of the Davis Cup in December.

JOHN McENROE Born on Feb. 16, 1959, in Wiesbaden, WGE

AWARDS AND RECORDS
1976: winner of the Orange Bowl
1977: semi-finalist at Wimbledon; winner of the French Junior Internationals; winner in the mixed doubles at Roland-Garros with M. Carillo
1978: finalist in the Queens tournament; United States university champion; winner of the Stockholm Open.
1979: winner of the Masters

Photo: John McEnroe: the revelation in 1977, the confirmation in 1978