Roland Garros Re-Lived 1984: The match that haunts McEnroe
The Tennis Podcast
David Law
4.5 • 2.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2020
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
John McEnroe never won the French Open. But he should have done in 1984. Instead, he lost a two-set lead in the final against Ivan Lendl. So, what happened?
Having re-watched the whole match, Catherine, David and Matt give their analysis. In what way did McEnroe allow himself to get distracted? Did he choke? How did Lendl mount his comeback? And what did this match do for both of their careers?
We also hear from Mary Carillo who recounts why it hurt McEnroe so much to lose specifically to Lendl, the way he’s still affected by the missed opportunity whenever he arrives at Roland Garros, and the poignant conversation that took place between the McEnroe brothers after the match.
The Tennis Podcast is presented by Catherine Whitaker and David Law, featuring Matt Roberts. It is produced weekly year-round, and daily during the Grand Slam tournaments. It is crowdfunded by listeners each December.
* NEWSLETTER *
Sign up to get our news, isolation diaries and Matt’s Stat - http://eepurl.com/gbmzRX
* ROLAND GARROS RE-LIVED *
We are producing daily shows throughout the original Roland Garros dates, looking back on 15 classic matches and stories from the tournament’s history. You can watch McEnroe vs. Lendl in full on YouTube. Tomorrow we will be covering Chris Evert vs. Martina Navratilova in the 1985 final. The full match is available on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4. We will also be doing editions for Wimbledon.
* EMAIL *
We hope that the podcast helps to provide some form of escape during these challenging times. If you ever feel like writing to us, our e-mail is open – info@tennispodcast.net
*REDDIT *
We have a sub-reddit page! It's a growing online community where more than 875 listeners chat about the show and all things tennis. Join in - https://www.reddit.com/r/thetennispodcast/
*SOCIAL MEDIA *
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetennispodcast/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TennisPodcast
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi I'm John McEnore and you're listening to the tennis podcast. |
| 0:13.0 | Yes the great John McEnore is the focus for our second installment of Roland Garros Relived |
| 0:19.4 | after the joys of Yannick Noah yesterday for all John. He did not have the sort of day that Yannick |
| 0:26.9 | Noah had 12 months earlier and we've just watched the match he played in 1984 against |
| 0:32.8 | Ivan Lendel. Five sets nearly four hours Catherine met her myself and it was something pretty special |
| 0:41.6 | Catherine how are you feeling having more witness what you've just witnessed. I'm still worried |
| 0:46.9 | about John McEnore is he okay. Yeah and well you know we'll go into the the aftershocks of |
| 0:56.5 | that match but you know I think the answer is he's never been as okay as he would have been |
| 1:03.2 | a fierre than one that match he's never been quite okay again that's how seismic that defeat was |
| 1:12.0 | for him and the victory was for Lendel. Yeah yeah it was it was quite a moment matter you have just |
| 1:19.1 | seen your first ever full John McEnore match is that correct. A second I've seen the 1980 |
| 1:25.8 | win wouldn't finally unfold before but this was the first other than that and yeah I mean I feel like |
| 1:30.4 | I've I've discovered like a new album that I never knew about from my favourite artist that's |
| 1:36.9 | kind of what it feels like when you go back and watch these matches it's like all this material |
| 1:40.6 | that I kind of knew existed but I'd never never watched and yeah I mean it's just one of the best |
| 1:46.1 | matches I've ever seen. I felt like I had a lot to say about it and then the then the volley on |
| 1:52.2 | match point has left me a bit speechless I haven't quite got over that that McEnore boxed on |
| 1:56.9 | match point I'm sure we'll get into it but yeah just just I'm on a bit of a high really I feel like |
| 2:01.6 | we've just come off watching an actual Grand Slam final that's just happened minutes ago. |
| 2:06.6 | Well yeah I mean normally we would be doing our second daily edition of the tennis podcast live |
| 2:13.1 | from a Grand Slam reacting to a day's play and we're going to be reacting to a day's play effectively |
| 2:18.8 | a Grand Slam final because that's what we've just witnessed and it really has hit us we've |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from David Law, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of David Law and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.