McEnroe Sinks Wilander & Thanks ‘Crowd Call’

John McEnroe returned to the Royal Albert Hall in sensational style on Thursday with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over long-time rival Mats Wilander. 

It was McEnroe’s first chance to sample ‘Aegon Crowd Call’, the human line-calling system which sees spectators holding up cards which read ‘in’ or ‘out’. McEnroe is a big fan. 

‘This was an opportunity for all these fans in here to right all the wrongs from my career,’ he said. ‘I just love it, why couldn’t this have happened sooner? I’d have won a lot more titles.’

So with a little help from a sympathetic crowd, McEnroe got the better of his old rival Wilander, showing frequent glimpses of his trademark guile and court-craft to battle past the wily Swede in two straights sets. 

Also on Thursday, Fernando Gonzalez cruised into the final of the Champions Tennis for a second consecutive year after brushing off the challenge of Royal Albert Hall debutante Sebastien Grosjean 7-5, 6-4. Afterwards, Grosjean was forced to withdraw from the rest of the singles because of injury. He will be replaced by Magnus Larsson. 

Before he competes in Sunday’s final, Gonzalez will turn his attention to a first qualifying match for Saturday’s Tie Break Tens event, the new, quick-fire format which is set to launch at the Royal Albert Hall on the night of Saturday 5th December as part of Champions Tennis. Gonzalez will face Younes El Aynaoui, while James Blake will take on Xavier Malisse, with the two winners to face off for the final place in the Tie Break Tens field alongside Andy Murray, John McEnroe, David Ferrer, Kyle Edmund and Tim Henman.