John McEnroe Wants US Open Tradition ‘Abolished Immediately’ — and Full Fifth Sets Scrapped

Tennis legend John McEnroe is demanding immediate changes to the US Open.

During an appearance on ESPN amid the ongoing tournament in New York City, per a Thursday, September 3 report in The U.S. Sun, the four-time US Open winner, 67, ranted that “the on-court warm-up should be abolished immediately.”

According to the official rules of play, competitors have one minute after arriving on court to meet the umpire for a coin toss, followed by a standard four-minute warmup, and another minute to get on court to start the match.

This, in McEnroe’s view, is all a waste of time.

“Players are already warmed up when they walk onto the court,” the infamously hotheaded athlete insisted during his televised appearance.

He cited changing viewership habits as his reasoning, claiming “it is difficult for people to sit in front of television for hours” these days.

“The changes don’t have to be enormous, but there does need to be development,” McEnroe added, before pointing out previous changes to the rules.

“There weren’t even tiebreaks in the past. Until then, for example, the opening set of a match could end 28-26,” McEnroe continued, before also suggesting “a match tiebreak at Grand Slams when it is 2-2 in sets, instead of playing a full fifth set.”