John McEnroe says he will show plenty of emotion if he’s sitting in Milos Raonic's box during Wimbledon.
It’s an interesting situation, considering McEnroe might call the Canadian's matches on television.
"I’m not going to sit there and show no emotion like [Ivan] Lendl did when Andy [Murray] won Wimbledon,” he told British reporters. “Milos knows that.”
McEnroe, who is serving as a coaching consultant for Raonic during the grass-court season, plans to keep his commentating commitments, even if it means broadcasting while Raonic is playing.
The seven-time Grand Slam champion will work with the 24-year-old during the event, and also in the lead-up to the Championships. He emphasized Raonic's potential on grass courts.
"The timing made sense to me,” McEnroe said. “There was an opening in my schedule so I thought to myself, ‘Name six or seven guys that can win Wimbledon.’ I would put Milos as one of those guys. At the moment he’s the sixth or seventh, but things can happen."
Raonic told reporters at the Queen's Club that McEnroe has been fully involved since stepping in as a hitting partner in their first practice.
"Almost straight away, he grabbed the balls, got on court himself and ended up hitting for three-and-a-half hours,” Raonic said. “I can’t imagine there’s many guys his age that can play so many hours of tennis a week. He wants to make a difference."
Having begun the season by reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, Raonic is looking to build on the net game that launched his run Down Under.
"I saw the success I had,” he said. “…Not only with what I was doing for myself, but the way I was able to keep my opponents off balance. I wanted to take that further and thought John could help.”
The partnership will begin with Raonic's intriguing encounter against Nick Kyrgios at the Queen's Club.