Tennis's conflicts of interest sat front and centre Wednesday in U.S. Open McEnroe case

NEW YORK – Only in tennis could this almost-humourous set of circumstances occur.

Well, it wasn't humorous for ESPN tennis commentator and soon-to-be former USTA head of player development Patrick McEnroe. But it's a moment that perfectly illustrates how incestuous the sport is.

In the late afternoon, the New York Times broke the news that McEnroe, who has been the man in charge of developing the U.S.'s next generation of champions, was to be relieved of his duties after six years on the job. No comments all around, of course.

The Times story indicates those at the USTA in charge of firing people were going to relieve McEnroe of his duties at the conclusion of the U.S. Open. It seems McEnroe will now step down voluntarily to keep it all civilized for everyone involved.

Shortly before that news broke, McEnroe was on a practice court at the U.S. Open practicing with his brother John, as if nothing else was going on. More ironic, one of his coaches, head of women's tennis Ola Malmquist, came by to speak to him during the practice session, and McEnroe asked Malmquist about a match involving one of the junior girls, Catherine Dolehide.

Here's what McEnroe looked like (both of them), during that hitting session.

If head of player development is a results-based job, the last two years of poor American results on the men's side – no American man had reached the fourth round in singles for the second year in a row, the second time in the tournament's 134-year history – would make it easy to make a case. The women fared poorly this year as well, even though there are many more talented, rising players on the women's side from Sloane Stephens to Madison Keys to Jamie Hampton.

But here's where those incestuous tennis conflicts show up: the press conference, which was to include two USTA execs and McEnroe himself, was delayed and delayed – because McEnroe was on ESPN, doing television commentary about the crown jewel of the organization that had been planning to fire him.

The only thing that would have completed the full circle of conflict would have been if an American player was playing in the match – say, this was all happening during the Serena Williams match, which was scheduled next on Arthur Ashe Stadium.

To push that theme even further, McEnroe could always have been interviewed on-air about the developing situation in his day job by fellow ESPN analyst and fellow USTA employee Mary Joe Fernandez.

Fernandez, the U.S. Fed Cup captain, just received the USTA's President's award yesterday. She also is the wife of the agent for Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov, among others. Fernandez received the award from David Haggerty, who is the USTA President and chairman and is one of the bigwigs who will be at the press conference later, to announce the departure of Fernandez's longtime television colleague.

Got all that straight? If you don't, don't worry. It's all a little obscure.

To his credit, with all that going on behind the scenes, McEnroe sounded like his usual professional self on air during the Kei Nishikori- Stan Wawrinka match.

(To be updated after the USTA's press conference)

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