“You hate to see someone that good having such a tough time” – McEnroe cites Osaka as he says kids need to be better prepared for success

McEnroe says kids should go to school rather than being homeschooled, where they get more isolated

John McEnroe at Wimbledon, 2022 Image Credit: AI/ Reuters/ Panoramic

July 19, 2022

Tennis legend John McEnroe believes that young players should have a more normal life and go to school instead of being homeschooled as that helps develop their personalities and prepare them better for life as an adult.

In an interview to Tennis365, McEnroe, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, said that at times tennis parents end up doing things that may not be healthy for their kids.

“I try to tell the parents at my tennis academy that their kids should be going to school. A lot of them start to get homeschooled I don’t agree with that,” the left-hander said. “They get more isolated. They put this tremendous pressure on, and that’s not a good idea for a kid.”

“My belief system is to nurture these kids and to try to help them navigate through the difficulties of being out there on your own and being able to embrace it and hopefully get to a place where you could get the type of effort. So I feel like this is the part of the sport where parents have to be more aware of what they’re doing to their kids and be able to help them. You know, be parents to them. Too often, these parents are living vicariously through their kids. And they ended up doing things that I think are unhealthy for the kids.”

I think it’s important to try to give some advice so that they feel better able to deal with it – John McEnroe

John McEnroe also said that when young players have great success at an early age, they are often not prepared for the same. The American cited the case of four-time Grand Slam winner, Naomi Osaka, who has publicly spoken about her mental health struggles over the past year, saying that he hates to see someone as talented as Osaka have such a tough time.

“Even sometimes when they succeed, they’re not mature enough or don’t want to deal with everything that comes with it. I mean Naomi Osaka comes to mind, she’s been successful at a very young age, she was sort of in a cocoon. And she hasn’t had a chance to grow up as a human being. It looks like it, I mean, I don’t know her. So, this is just a guess.” McEnroe continued.

“She’s obviously a very introverted person, she’s talked about that, a shy person. And it’s kind of overwhelming in certain ways. And so you hate to see someone that good having such a tough time, who’s, doing so well in so many ways. So that tells me that we need to look at these things more carefully. And hopefully, if us old guys or girls ex-players can be helpful in any way, I think it’s important to try to give some advice so that they feel better able to deal with it.”