You Got Something to Say?

With an on-court manner as rough as his tennis touch was refined, John McEnroe cemented his reputation as a man of many titles. There were those he won — a record 154 singles and doubles championships — and those he dished out, from “jerk” (very mild) to the more customary “f_____g a_____e.” Fiery. In your face. Explosively perfectionistic. That was McEnroe then, and that’s still McEnroe now. Maturity — and anger-management therapy — have mellowed the 43-year-old tennis great’s legendary temper, but still, he says, “there’s probably times every day where I feel like I lose control.” Judging by his new memoir, Serious (Little, Brown; 352 pages) — the title alludes to his catchphrase, “You cannot be serious” — the subject of his wrath nowadays isn’t an umpire or an obnoxious fan but his racquet-smashing, tantrum-throwing self.

McEnroe the player was obviously torn by inner conflict. During points, he was so in control — solid on the baseline, silky smooth at the net, masterful with both his movement and the ball’s. But in between points, he seemed a different man, unable (or unwilling) to control the verbal volleys. In retrospect, a contrite McEnroe fears that he’s still seen as a “spoiled, loudmouthed, ill-tempered crybaby” of a player. Sure, fans remember the three Wimbledon singles trophies he lifted, his four U.S. Open titles, the 10 Grand Slam doubles crowns. But many haven’t forgotten Wimbledon 1981, when he called umpire Ted James “the pits of the world,” almost got thrown out of the tournament and was labeled “Super Brat” by the British press.

McEnroe the post-therapy modern man candidly assesses, both in interview and autobiography, his public displays as well as his private dysfunction. He says that putting the book together helped him to learn from some of his difficult past, such as the breakup of his rocky, drug-addled marriage to Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal, which he calls “a real failing.” Last week, he described relations with his ex as “very strained,” diplomatic words given that she told Britain’s Daily Mail days before that he was a “sociopath.”

His second marriage, to singer Patty Smyth, has been more successful. Smyth gives her husband a “B-plus or an A-minus” for his recent personal growth. (Four years ago, she’d have given him a D.) McEnroe also says he’s a “good dad” and that fatherhood “was the only thing that kept me from failing” totally. These days, his happiest times are at the dinner table, when all six kids — two sons and a daughter by O’Neal and two daughters and a stepdaughter with Smyth — are home.

Though McEnroe left the tour in 1992, tennis remains a big part of his life. He plays on the senior circuit, writes a column and does TV commentary for majors such as Wimbledon, which begins next week. Away from the sport, he is host of The Chair, a new quiz show, but is still seeking his off-court niche. He says he toys with the idea of entering a new arena: politics. When he also says, “I’d like to have a regular job,” you want to point out the apparent conflict. But then you remember who he is. Argue? Uh, no. Besides, just imagine: McEnroe in the U.S. Congress. Now that would be some show. Q&A

TIME: What was the point of writing the book?
McENROE: One reason is that by looking at my past, I’d get a better idea of where I want to go now.

TIME: What do you want to be when you grow up?
McENROE: Well, I’d like to try something a little bit more serious. It would be nice to have a great tennis academy at Flushing Meadow [where the U.S. Open is played]. And then I kid around about the idea of politics on some level.

TIME: You still seem pretty conflicted. Do you wish you had been nicer or maybe funnier?
McENROE: Well, for sure funnier. I think that one of the reasons people relate to me is that they feel like they can see me as a human being, as a husband and a parent.

TIME: How can men’s tennis be made more interesting? Wooden racquets?
McENROE: I wish that we had never got away from wood in the first place. But I think that something needs to be done about the serve being the major weapon in the sport. It’s less subtle than it used to be.

TIME: Are you and Jimmy Connors going to play the Williams sisters?
McENROE: I don’t foresee that. But it worries me that the most interesting thing about tennis now is a singles or doubles match with the Williams sisters.