John McEnroe, nicked named " Superbrat," is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. In 1979, he won his first U.S. Open, beating Vitas Gerulaitis in straight sets in the final to become the youngest winner of the U.S. championships in 31 years, since Pancho Gonzales, also 20. During his career, he earned $12,539,622 and 77 singles titles, third most behind Jimmy Connors' 109 and Ivan Lendl's 94. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. John also won a record eight season ending championships, comprising five WCT Finals titles and three Masters Grand Prix titles from a combined twelve final appearances at these two events, a record he shares with Ivan Lendl.

John is also the worst possible role model for any young person interested in playing professional sports. He was a super winner and a super whiner. Unfortunately, his on-court achievements were often overshadowed by his on-court temper tantrums. In 1987, McEnroe didn't win a title for the first time since turning pro. He took a seven-month break from the game following the US Open, where he was suspended for two months and fined $17,500 for misconduct and verbal abuse. At the height of his career, NBC-TV's tennis coverage included a piece with clips of his many on-court tantrums, underscored by the Men at Work hit song, Be Good Johnny. His bursts of rage were parodied in the satirical British programme 'Spitting Image', where he and his then wife Tatum frequently screamed and threw things at each other. He was also lampooned in the Australian The Paul Hogan Show, in which Paul Hogan played "John MacEnhoax" who used a handshake to fling his opponent, destroying a tennis court.

But it was John 's romance with the equally volatile Tatum O'Neal that turned him into a paparazzi staple. "It felt like open season on me, on her, and especially on the two of us together," John writes in his autobiography, "You Cannot Be Serious.. "Suddenly, wherever I went, it felt like a spectacle." The paparazzi scrutiny, drug use, and mutual tantrums led to their divorce in 1992 after six ultra-stormy years of marriage.

John has also been given roles in TV and film where he acknowledges his temper such as in his appearance in a 2005 car commercial for the SEAT Altea where he shouts "Clearly inside the line" at an officer who has ticketed him for parking incorrectly. He also portrays himself in the film Mr. Deeds (2002) where he lauds the title character for getting assaulting an antagonist, and has a scene in the film Anger Management (2003), most of which was cut—leaving only a short shot of him sleeping on the floor of the psychiatrist's office.