John McEnroe went off script with a bizarre moment during TNT Sport's Australian Open coverage, as the legendary tennis icon dragged a member of the production team onto set. The American was discussing the merits of having a coach sat on the sidelines, with McEnroe admitting it wasn't necessarily his style.
Instead, McEnroe questioned how necessary they were for the top players in the world, and to demonstrate his point, he grabbed an unassuming member of the production team. He pointed towards one of the camera people and asked: "Can you follow me please?"
The off-script moment raised eyebrows among his fellow pundits, but McEnroe had committed himself to the stunt now and was determined to see it out. He went up to the crew member, asking: "I don't know this young girl, what's your name," with the woman eventually sheepishly replying: "Manon."
Things became a little clearer when McEnroe explained exactly what he was up to, saying: "If Manon coached Carlos Alcaraz, he'd be second or first in the world at worst." An illustration that McEnroe believes Alcaraz - and other top players - don't need big coaching teams to elevate their game.
TNT Sports presenter Laura Robson responded with: "I see, I wondered where you were going with that one then," but McEnroe continued to dispel claims that top players need a 'supercoach'. Instead, the seven-time Grand Slam singles champion insisted the big entourages can be a hinderance to players insted.
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On the virtue of a big coaching team, he added: "I didn't like travelling with a lot of people. God bless these guys, they're bringing their family, brothers, sisters, coach, physios, and cook. Gotta get to the semi-finals just to break even."
Despite his pushback, McEnroe did admit Jannik Sinner's coach, Darren Cahill, should be considered one of the best of all time, across all of sport. He's previously told ESPN: "I know his original coach when he was a kid, Riccardo Piatti, who did a great job with him. But he felt like he needed something more, just like Coco [Gauff] has decided to get a new coach. Darren Cahill is one of the greatest coaches that you will ever see in any sport, he should be in the Hall of Fame."
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