John McEnroe reveals how 2nd wife Patty Smyth helped him turn career around: "I got lucky"
John McEnroe is one of the better-known tennis players in history, thanks to his tremendous list of achievements but also his personality. He was quite the character during his playing days and remained such after. When it comes to his career, like many players, he's had phases.
He had a dominant phase and then a less so, but he was able to eventually overcome that second lackluster phase. A person who helped him do it was his wife, Patty Smyth, a famous musician and a super successful individual in her own right. McEnroe talked about her role in getting him back to the top during a recent appearance on the Served with Andy Roddick podcast.
"I got lucky that I got a second chance with Patty, my second wife. She was like 'If you're going to do this, you need to do this right. I was playing some events and I was not in great shape and I was losing because of that. She was like you gotta get in shape and you gotta do this, in essence go back to your roots," McEnroe on his wife's role in getting him back to the top. (45:40)
McEnroe and Smyth have been married since 1997 and are still going strong. What worked so well for McEnroe with Smyth was her really direct approach.
McEnroe's Marriage to Smyth
Patty Smyth is McEnroe's second wife. The tennis legend said she was able to ground his really enthusiastic approach to life, which had him wondering about many things frequently.
At one point, as McEnroe told Roddick in the podcast, the American spoke about his desire to join her in a band. Her response to that was simply to ask him to play Wimbledon together, which McEnroe jokingly explained was her way of simply telling him to stay in his own lane, and that sort of dynamic worked really well for them.
"So I had this tremendous idea that we should join a band together. She looked at me and she said 'We should play Wimbledon'. I said you don't even play tennis and she said 'Exactly! Stick to your day job'" - McEnroe retells a funny exchange between him and his wife. (46:30)
McEnroe would ultimately heed his wife's advice and take up tennis seriously again, which resulted in another strong run after his initial dominant run.