Down a set and looking jaded, John McEnroe took out a luminous, Holland-style orange shirt from his racquet bag, pumped up a packed crowd in Eindhoven and turned his fortunes around against Petr Korda to win the Delta Tour of Champions event for the second year in a row.
McEnroe won 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 (on a Champion's Tie-Break) to head the Delta Points Standings with two events in the year (Monte Carlo - November 20-23, and London - December 3-7) remaining.
Both players carried 100% records into the final after the group stages, and apart from the final this time last year which McEnroe won, Korda had triumped in most of their recent encounters.
This one looked like going the same way when Korda roared through the opener, but as he prepared for the second set, McEnroe reached into his bag for an orange shirt. Predictably, the crowd went wild, and McEnroe seemed energised.
"I saved that shirt the whole week for today," said McEnroe. "I had one shirt that was orange and I figured I'm down a set and it's time for a desperation move. It was unbelievable, it worked, I turned it around."
He broke Korda early in the second set to lead 4-1, wrapped it up 6-3, but the Czech hung in gamely in the Champion's Tie-Break. McEnroe squandered an early mini-break, but at 6 points all he played some of his best tennis of the week. Korda saved one match point at 9-7 with a big first serve, but McEnroe responded in kind to take the match and the title.
"I was hurting at the beginning but that's where the conditioning I've been doing pays off," said McEnroe. "I started to feel better and I was roaring for a third set rather than the Champion's Tie-Break because I could see he was hurting and the best part is that he was hurting more than I was."
McEnroe will be back in Europe again in November and December for the remaining two Delta Champions events - the Tamoil legends of Monte Carlo and the Honda Challenge in London, and he's raring to go.
"I'd love to win them both," he said. "I'm definitely going to go back to the drawing board, work even harder and I'll be there. I'm ready."
