Jim Williams: McEnroe: Blake used D.C. to get rolling
Jim Williams, The Examiner
Aug 3, 2006 5:00 AM (2 hrs 25 mins ago)
Current rank: # 1 of 3,900 articles

WASHINGTON - Tennis fans of Washington know that when the Legg Mason Classic comes to town, so does record heat. For some reason temps rise to the century mark when the FitzGerald Tennis Center out on 16th Street hosts the annual ATP tour stop.


ESPN2 tennis analyst Patrick McEnroe is heating up after spending a couple weeks at home in Los Angeles playing Mr. Mom while his wife starred in the “Sound of Music” at the Hollywood Bowl. This week, McEnroe and Sean McDonough will handle the ESPN2’s Legg Mason coverage.

I talked with McEnroe and he likes how James Blake has used Washington as springboard for his career.


McEnroe on Blake: “James had his coming out party here. He seemed to find his game in Washington and now he is the No. 5 player in the world. I really like the way he has found his game and now seems to have confidence, which is something that he lacked for years. I know having him as part of the Davis Cup Team he has matured and refined his game. James is just going to get better and it all started here for him.”


McEnroe on being the Davis Cup coach: “It was an honor to replace my brother, John, as the coach and I will tell you that James Blake and Andy Roddick love to play for the U.S. I really think that Andy does not get the credit he should for being a real team player for our Davis Cup team. He always plays hard and enjoys being a team guy.”


ESPN2 has logged nearly 500 hours of tennis since the season started and it will have a good year both in ratings and number of tournaments televised.

Jim Williams is a seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director and writer.