JOHNNY MAC VS. ANDY RODDICK A CLASH OF ERAS BY JUSTIN CHAFFEE

If you haven’t seen the John McEnroe Andy Roddick Chase commercial, please take a minute and do so because it is brilliant. We’ll wait a moment. Welcome back. Now that you’ve seen the commercial and agree that it is great, it’s time to analyze it. The commercial is much more than your average marketing campaign. How many times can you say that? Beneath it all, it captures the two eras of American tennis. We have McEnroe being McEnroe, trash talking, and arguing, and we have Andy Roddick with his worker like mentality, and his trademark booming serve, that silences McEnroe, as he watches an ace fly past him. Then he delivers the classic, “You cannot be serious.”

In its short duration, the commercial manages to be clever, entertaining, funny, and nostalgic. The commercial serves it purpose (no pun intended) of marketing Chase, but also getting tennis into the minds of the people at home.

 

Now let’s take a moment, and look at the stars of the commercial, starting with McEnroe. When you hear the name John McEnroe one of the first things that comes to mind is his classic catchphrase, “You cannot be serious!” It’s not only something he would say in all of his disputes with the linesmen and women, and chair umpires, but he has also marketed it very well. Nike had produced countless t-shirts with McEnroe’s image, and phrase, and we also have seen commercials involving the sports legend utilizing the phrase. Now, some may call this milking it for all it’s worth, and it is, but it works, every time. Whatever your views on McEnroe, good or bad, we can’t argue that he wasn’t one of the biggest stars in the men’s tennis game. He did win seven grand slam titles, and the other is that he is an entertainer. McEnroe was part of the tennis boom era, where tennis reached it peak, and everyone just wanted to play the game. Over the years, the popularity of tennis has somewhat dwindled in the states, but I think having McEnroe appear in these commercials is another medium to get tennis out to the general public.

 

Andy Roddick also stars in the commercial and while representing a different era of American Tennis he shares some similarities to Johnny Mac. They both are passionate, entertainers with personality, who played with their heart on their sleeves. Roddick had a reputation for not only being a hard worker, but also for his wit in the press room. Roddick and McEnroe, were also considered to be the bad boys of tennis, because of their tempers on the court. One of Roddick’s best digs at an umpire came in the 2008 Australian Open Third Round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber when he said, “ Stay in school kids or you’ll end up being an umpire!” In Roddick’s defensive I always viewed his on court demeanor as passionate. Where McEnroe had Connors, Andy was the only one that was bearing the heavy weight and expectations for American tennis on his shoulders. For those who do not follow tennis as closely, Roddick has been retired for two years, and has kept busy doing work for his charity, The Andy Roddick Foundation, as well as a sports analysts for Fox Sports live, which includes hosting an extremely entertaining podcast, Roddick & Reiter podcast. Roddick has even dusted off his racket. He plays on the senior tour, and World Team Tennis.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In many cases after an athlete retires, we watch them go off into the sunset. We do not see or hear of them for a while. They live the quiet life and deservingly so, but as fans of the player, it can be a little disappointing to say the least. When we watch our desired sport, we selfishly feel something is missing. The person you were rooting for is gone. Now what do we do? For some, we find other players to follow, or in team sports, you can at least follow the team. It’s different for each sports fan, and for the sport you follow. John McEnroe is a great example of someone who has stuck with the game. He plays on the senior tour, and offers some of the best insights as a commentator. Andy Roddick is setting up his post tennis career in a different yet similar way. Similar in that they both still play tennis, different in that McEnroe commentates, and Roddick is more of a rounded sports analysts, but this chase commercial has brought them together. Hopefully in the near future we will see part two of the commercial. I must say on a personal level, to see my sports hero, Andy Roddick still involved in some capacity with tennis, while pursing his other media endeavors, is fortunate.

 

It’s good to have you back Andy.

Topics: Andy Roddick, John Mcenroe, Johnny Mac, Justin Chaffee, Tennis, Tennis News

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