John McEnroe is a legend, to put it mildly. Perhaps the most iconic player in the history of tennis, and only one of a handful from his generation to have transcended the sport.

Famous for his temper as for his precocious talent, he is without doubt one of tennis’ all time greats with 17 Grand Slam titles – including 7 Singles (3 Wimbledons and 4 US Opens).

He became the top ranked singles player in the world on March 3, 1980 and spent a total of 170 weeks at number one between 1980 and 1985.

John has also been called “the greatest doubles player of all time,” forming a powerful partnership with Peter Fleming. They won 57 men’s doubles titles including four at Wimbledon and three at the US Open.

On the few occasions I have met John he has been extremely pleasant and has happily signed. After beating Wayne Ferreira in his opening game at the Statoil Masters at the Royal Albert Hall – a title he has won on four previous occasions – he signed and dedicated my sketch.