Sopranos-Style Tennis & McEnroe Tantrums

Remember those fishy match-fixing allegations that rocked the tennis world this summer? Tennis great and fab broadcaster John McEnroe thinks the Russian mob may be literally calling the shots.

“Someone may have threatened the players,” Mac suggests to the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph. ” . . . I’m guessing that could happen. That would make more sense to me than top players throwing a match for money.”

Thus, in the words of Bacchus (sender of this story), players “might not be whacking the ball for fear of getting whacked.” 

Speaking of McEnroe, we thought a blast from his tantrum-throwing past might offset the potentially dark underbelly of tennis in 2007.  Here’s a clip (15s) of an 80s-era Stockholm Open fit so entertaining those wild and crazy Swedes made a commercial out of it:

Want to see more tantrum action? Check out this “greatest moments” montage (3m, 25s), which includes a reflective McEnroe looking back at his fit-pitching days: