'Super Brat' McEnroe wishes for return of ' vicious old school rivalries' to help 'boring' tennis

American tennis legend John McEnroe has said that he yearned for the return of the old school vicious rivalries in tennis, adding that the game would be more exciting and benefit if players show a bit more feistiness on court.

McEnroe's comments came on the heels of Latvian tennis player Ernests Gulbis' claims that the Big Four in men's tennis -Andy Murray, Roger Federer. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were dull and showed each other too much respect, a notion, which surprisingly Federer also agreed to, the Mirror reports.

According to the report, today's tennis has grown more silent than the days of yore when McEnroe, known as Super Brat for his on-court tantrums, frequently clashed with legends Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.

McEnroe further said that such aggressiveness is necessary in an one-on-one sport, especially when there are many more options than in the past, adding that it is necessary to find out ways to grab more fans.

Believing that the modern game needs a similar edge to grab fans, McEnroe, a BBC pundit, said that that it would be nice to see players going at their games more viciously like he had in his clashes with Connors or Lendl, although he added that many players of today find it hard to show aggressiveness as it is not their style.

According to McEnroe, despite Borg being one of his greatest rivals, he got along well with him, adding that to play viciously against an opponent does not mean that a player has to dislike him.