Former American tennis player John McEnroe(53) was the guest of honor at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy tournament that is taking place these days in Bucharest. McEnroe played a demonstrative game on Tuesday, alongside Ilie Nastase, Andrei Pavel and Mansour Bahrami. “I am glad to return to Bucharest after so many years. I hope this will be a demonstrative game that will please the spectators,” McEnroe, winner of 7 Grand Slams, stated before the game, being quoted by Agerpres. McEnroe was previously in Bucharest in 1984, playing in a Davis Cup game that pitted Romania against the US. McEnroe was world number one for 108 consecutive weeks. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles (three at Wimbledon and four at the US Open), nine Grand Slam men’s doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title. McEnroe also won a record eight season ending championships, comprising five WCT Finals titles and three Masters Grand Prix titles from twelve final appearances at these two events, a record he shares with Ivan Lendl, according to wikipedia.org. In his turn, Ilie Nastase, the first world number one in the history of the ATP rankings, remembered a moment in which he played against the American: “I remember the most tense game against John, in 1979 at the US Open, back when I stood no chance but I managed to annoy him in front of 20,000 fans. I managed to do that, but I lost in four sets. But in the end we met and had lunch.” In the first game of the day, John McEnroe played a singles game against Andrei Pavel, after which he paired up with Mansour Bahrami and played against Ilie Nastase and Andrei Pavel.
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