Tennis Legend John McEnroe Shares His Airport and TSA Gripes — Plus, Why He Just Can’t Get Into Pickleball

Tennis legend John McEnroe really hates airport crowds. 

The 77-time singles title winner said flying has started to feel like a factory, with long lines at airport security, long wait times for bags, and the need to get to the airport much earlier than in years past. In fact, when asked what his biggest pet peeve about airport travel was, he just chuckled and offered: “where do I start?”

“I’m always at the airport, a lot, more than most people,” McEnroe told Travel + Leisure when we sat down with him this month at the annual Baha Mar Tennis Cup in the Bahamas, adding, “When I first started flying, it was unbelievable. If you were able to get first class, it was like, ‘my God, this is amazing.’ Now it’s like, you just throw them all in.”

McEnroe said he flies commercial up to 95 percent of the time, and said he finds he has to get to the airport a lot earlier than in the past, remembering a time when he could roll up just minutes before a flight. In fact, he remembers one instance flying from Melbourne to Los Angeles after calling the final of the Australian Open, arriving on the plane just five minutes before takeoff.

“That’s when I feel like, okay, I’m pretty lucky,” he said. “My name helped there.”

Now, McEnroe said he arrives at least an hour to an hour and a half before a flight.

“I can afford to have TSA PreCheck — it’s not helping so much anymore — all of the sudden the lines are longer than they are at the normal line. I’m like ‘I’m going on the normal line.’ I’ve done that,” he said. “Clear is another one that suddenly the lines are crazy.”

To save time, McEnroe said he tries to travel light.

“You don’t want to sit there and wait 45 minutes for your bag. That’s why I try to just not travel with a suitcase if I don’t have to,” he said. But there are certain things he won’t ever check: “I always bring my rackets… You can buy more clothes.”

A born-and-raised New Yorker, McEnroe has catapulted his celebrated tennis career into an impressive broadcasting second act, calling top matches at the majors. He also founded the John McEnroe Tennis Academy in New York and just opened the John McEnroe Tennis Center at Baha Mar complete with eight picture-perfect courts — six hard courts and two clay courts — all surrounded by swaying palm trees.

“There’s a lot that goes into something like this. At my tennis academy, most of the business is people that are fairly well off that pay the bills for the people that can’t afford it… So I envision something similar here,” McEnroe said, adding he hopes to “bring more attention to what to me is a global issue.”

But it’s not lost on McEnroe that the Bahamas isn’t a bad place to spend time.

“The Bahamas is close [to] where I live. It’s a great opportunity to be able to come down, relax, —  which I don’t do that often — bring some of my kids, I have a grandkid now. I envision this as something that’s selfishly going to be fun for me,” he said. “I’m a guy who feels better when I work out, it never changes.”

One trend McEnroe can’t completely get behind: pickleball. That’s despite the fact his new Baha Mar tennis center boasts not one, not two, but six pickleball courts.

“I’m not a huge fan of pickleball, but my friends like to play with me. You’re not getting the workout you can get from tennis, for example, but that’s why people are doing it,” he said, joking: “Now doctors, of course, love it. Everyone’s getting hurt… The American Medical Association loves pickleball.”

Over the years, McEnroe has spent plenty of time in different cities and different majors, but without a doubt, his two favorite events are the U.S. Open (played in his hometown of New York) and Wimbledon. And now he’s added a new sport to the list: golf.

“I got invited to play Augusta last year. That was like the Wimbledon of golf,” he said. “Nothing could top that.”

Now, his ideal vacation consists of playing a round of golf, having a nice gym or tennis facility, and a beach.

“I love the beach,” he said. “There’s nothing like salt water.”