That’s a long time ago, almost a quarter century, and tennis has changed, faded, become technological, become bland, and it might be hard for anyone younger than 35 or so to appreciate that McEnroe, as a tennis player, was fundamentally different than any other athlete of his era. He was the only athlete, in my mind, who came close to being a true genius at his game. Nicklaus putted with steel and hit qualitatively higher shots than the rest. Magic played point guard at 6-foot-9, and he had a brilliant sense of what was happening on the court around him. Montana understood physics, especially in the final moments, and he could throw parabolas that cleared linebackers fingers by millimeters and fell softly into receivers hands. Wade Boggs taught himself all the possibilities of Fenway Park and in 1985 and 1987 he rapped enough doubles off the Green Monster to hit .418 and .411 at home.