McEnroe thinks women should play less tournaments

NEW YORK -- John McEnroe knows his feelings about women's tennis won't make him any friends. He also doesn't care.

The sport's most outspoken figure said women aren't cut out to play as many tournaments as they're asked to by their tour.

"There should be less events for women," McEnroe said in a conference call this week to preview CBS' coverage of the U.S. Open, which starts Monday. "You need an actual meltdown on court or someone to quit the game altogether before they realize you need to change the schedule."

The same day that McEnroe was voicing his opinion, the Women's Tennis Association released an update on initiatives it's taking to make the season less of a grind. By shortening and streamlining the season, the WTA said withdrawals were down 35 percent and participation by top players was up 57 percent in the tour's top nine events over the first eight months of 2010 compared to 2008.

Another CBS analyst and former pro, Mary Carillo, was on the call with McEnroe, and while she agreed that the quality of women's tennis could use an upgrade, she doesn't think women are incapable of grinding through as long a season as the men.

"I hate the idea that we have to judge women on a curve and say, 'It's too much for them,'" Carillo said. "I've seen too many great women champions for too long."

The U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to offer equal prize money to men and women -- a policy that has been criticized by some because the women play best-of-3-set matches, while the men play best-of-5.

There's also a debate about whether men and women should play at the same sites more often, and whether the schedule unfairly forces players to enter too many events to secure their rankings.

"I think that's a little bit of a misconception that's out there," said Kim Clijsters, who left the tour for about 2½ years to start a family, then won the 2009 U.S. Open in her return to Grand Slam tennis. "We can choose our schedule. We choose how many tournaments we want to play in, and I think it's a player's discipline and professionalism to know when to play."

McEnroe said women have it better in tennis than any other sport.

"But you shouldn't push them to playing more than they're capable of playing," he said. "Unless you want to make it best-of-5. Make it best-of-5 for majors for the women."

Federer's video

Roger Federer is not giving much away about how real that video is of him knocking a metal bottle off a man's head with a serve -- twice in a row.

The clip has drawn more than 5 million views on YouTube. Type in "Federer trick shot" to check it out.

"I couldn't believe the amount of hits I got," Federer said Saturday. "I'm happy, then, that so many people have seen it, liked it, and debated about it. I was shocked."

He said it took "one or two takes ... five, 10 minutes, and that was it. It was at one of the shoots I did after Wimbledon in Zurich, and we had a fun time doing it."

Andy Murray, twice a runner-up to Federer in Grand Slam finals, was asked about the clip's authenticity.

"You think it was real? Is that right?" Murray replied, smiling.

Then Murray noted that he liked the video, before adding: "There's not a chance it's real, though."

Defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters also was asked Saturday whether she thinks it's legit.

"Let me just say that I would not hold that thing on my head even if it was Roger Federer," Clijsters said. "There's your answer."

Happy birthday

Andy Roddick turns 28 on Monday, which happens to be Day 1 of the U.S. Open.

He won the hard-court Grand Slam tournament in 2003, but hasn't added a second major title, losing in four finals.

Asked Saturday about his sense of urgency when it comes to claiming another Grand Slam trophy as he gets older, the ninth-seeded Roddick said: "Well, it's always there. Birthday or no birthday, you come in to try to win one. To be honest, I don't think too much about age, number, whatever.

"I'll play till I can, until I feel like I shouldn't anymore," Roddick continued. "But, you know, the urgency is always there."