John McEnroe was the one who gave tennis raw emotional face value. However, the player’s ex-wife Tatum O’Neal, once claimed that the player had assaulted her. On the other hand, he denied ever hitting his ex-wife and claimed that he wanted to work things out with her.

McEnroe earned the nickname, ‘Superbrat’ because of his unfiltered reactions on the court, be it while being the player himself or being the captain of the Team World at the Laver Cup.

Tatum O’Neal claimed that John McEnroe assaulted her

John McEnroe had a glorious career in tennis and is an American tennis legend. The player had some personal issues due to which he had separated from his ex-wife and American actress Tatum O’ Neal. She claimed that he had shown violent behavior towards her. In an old interview, she said, “He kicked me down the stairs. I had never had a plan. I never thought, ‘Oh, I’ve gotta leave this guy’.”

However, she took that step for her kids and said, “But I thought my little 5-year-old’s gonna open the door and see his mother on the floor, with this crazy man yelling over her.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Nick Kyrgios’ uncontrollable rant at the chair umpire in the Miami Open 2022

The actress was discontent with how things turned out after the separation too. She could not get hold of her kids. She said, “He never called me. The kids never visited me. The kids couldn’t talk to me.” She related how things had been with her and her father and said, “He said he didn’t know me. I never got a visit from a family member.”

McEnroe refuted all claims

Through his book, the seven-time grand slam champion accepted that he had taken therapy to work on his aggression. However, he refuted all claims of his ex-wife’s assault. He said, “I am very disappointed in Tatum’s statements.” He refuted her claims of distancing their kids from her too. McEnroe said, “I had hoped that, after all these years, she would see things more accurately, and that she would share my concern for the welfare of our children.” 

On the other hand, he said that he wanted to work things out with her. He stated his devastation after his separation from Tatum and said, “I was shocked and devastated by how suddenly it had happened. I had never cried so much in my life.”

McEnroe is widely known for his on-court outbursts. He did not hide his emotions and expressed his discontent with the players and the chair umpires equally. In the present scenario, we can see Nick Kyrgios giving in to his aggressive instincts on the court similarly.