Final ;top
Why I Love ...
New York
Tennis star Patrick McEnroe
celebrates his hometown
during his favorite time of the
year: U.S. Open season
If you went to the U.S. Open at its old digs
in Forest Hills, N. Y., you might have spot-
The best
places to ...
ted a young Patrick McEnroe. He was the
kid who was always running around with an Italian ice cup in his hand. “When I’d go there, I’d want to get to as many courts as I could and take in as many matches as possible,” says McEnroe, 45. “So I vividly remember running all the time along the grounds. And I always had an Ital- ian ice cup with me, because if you kept the cup, you got free refills.” Given that his brother, John, was an emerging junior-level player, McEnroe was able to make his way inside the locker room
and meet such established stars as Arthur
Ashe and Rod Laver, as well as a rising one
CATCH AN
INDIE FLICK
named Jimmy Connors. McEnroe went on
to serve as a ball boy for the Open before
launching an 11-year professional career
and a decade as captain of the U.S. Davis
Cup team. Now, along with his brother,
he’s an ESPN commentator at the current
venue, Flushing Meadows–Corona Park.
This year’s Open runs Aug. 29–Sept. 11.
“Every time I go back, I think of how
much the Open has grown,” he says. “It
used to be a tournament played at a pri-
vate club. Now it’s played at a huge park
in a public facility with people all over the
world attending.”
Beyond his commentator duties, McEn-
roe has taken on the role of general manager
of player development for the U.S. Tennis
Association, which means he oversees the
next generation of the sport’s pro talent in
America, working with coaches to develop
players as young as 6 years old. Otherwise,
McEnroe enjoys living the “New York
state of mind.” He grew up in Douglaston,
Queens. He was sitting in the stands in Yan-
kee Stadium when Reggie Jackson hit three
home runs on three pitches in Game 6 of
the 1977 World Series. He played soccer in
Central Park as a teen and, in high school,
regularly took the subway to Columbia Uni-
versity to play with that team, because local
players weren’t up to his ability.
He and his wife, singer-actress Melissa
Errico, are bringing up their three daugh-
ters in Manhattan and, yep, his oldest has
already had her first tennis lessons.
“She’s 5 and very aggressive,” McEnroe
says. “So we told her that, in tennis, it’s OK
to hit a ball as hard as she can. This hope-
fully will keep her from hitting her little
sisters as hard as she can.”
—DENNIS MCCA;ERT Y
Angelika New York
18 W. Houston St.;
212-995-2570;
angelikafilmcenter.com • A
generation of New Yorkers
discovered the magic of art
house movies at the Angelika,
which originally opened in
New York’s SoHo district in
1989. “This is the definitive
place to watch independent
movies,” McEnroe says. “My
wife and I had our first date
here. We saw I Shot Andy
Warhol.”
TAKE THE KIDS
Children’s Museum
of Manhattan
EAT PANINI
Bread
20 Spring St.; 212-334-1015 •
This sandwich establishment
earns praise in New York
Magazine for Sicilian sardines
with tomato and Thai-pepper
mayo, among other tasty cre-
ations. “The name says it all,
because it comes down to the
bread here,” McEnroe says.
“I get fresh tomatoes, moz-
zarella and prosciutto—extra
prosciutto.”
TODD PLI TT/CON TOUR BY GE T TY IMAGES
