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Sep 5

Patrick McEnroe Has Branched Out From His Meat and Potatoes Childhood – Grub Street

Diet Comments Off on Patrick McEnroe Has Branched Out From His Meat and Potatoes Childhood – Grub Street

Patrick McEnroe broadcasting while dreaming of sushi. Illustration: Margalit Cutler

For the last couple weeks, the ESPN broadcaster and former tennis pro Patrick McEnroe has been in quarantine in a tennis-tournament bubble. The U.S. Open typically draws massive crowds to Queens just ask any New Yorker who has taken the 7 train in late August. This year, of course, there are no fans. Obviously for the top, top players its got to be weird, for Serena and Djokovic, every time they walk out there theres a huge crowd, McEnroe says. But its still a tennis match. Its not that different when you get between the lines. In the tennis bubble, hes keeping busy studying up on players hes less familiar with, and watching the greats practice. Im sitting in Arthur Ashe Stadium, which normally seats almost 24,000 people, theres maybe at the moment 50 people in here, he tells Grub. Hes also been drinking plenty of La Croix while stuck inside his tennis bubble I am currently obsessed with sparkling water and eating some favorites, like sesame chicken and Coals grilled pizza.

Friday, August 28My day begins with the 9 a.m. morning ESPN production meeting, where we go over the TV schedule and get our stat sheets on all the players and matches for the day. This week, I was covering the Western & Southern Open tournament, normally held in Cincinnati, which is being held this year at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the site of the U.S. Open, which Im also covering.

After the meeting, for breakfast I had an egg-white frittata with broccoli, mushrooms, onions and some hot sauce. I like that Cholula. Thats what they bring to us here, Ill take that. I wouldnt say Im a connoisseur of hot sauce, but I have been adding it a little bit more. When I was young I wasnt into spicy foods at all. Its something Ive gotten more into in my later years. Brad Gilbert, my comrade at ESPN, hes a heavy-duty hot-sauce guy. Maybe his influence rubbed off on me a little bit.

Then I prepared to go on air for pre-match commentary about an hour later with my colleagues Chis McKendry and former world No. 4 James Blake (whom I coached when I was captain of the U.S. Davis Cup Team). I try not to eat too much before going on air. I get a little tempted sometimes just to start pounding down sugar.

For lunch I had a Greek quinoa salad with grilled chicken, cucumber, tomato, feta, olives, and pepperoncini. And I am currently obsessed with sparkling water. La Croix is my favorite with all their flavors (passionfruit, key lime, mango, and tangerine in particular). They have an unbelievable supply they have in our commentary booths, various flavors of La Croix. Im sort of the guy who started it, so now everybody drinks it.

When I go to the booth, the stage manager is not allowed to be in the booth with us but is in the outside area. Theyll ask me, What would you like to drink? And I say, Bring me a La Croix. And they say, What flavor? And I say, Surprise me! Cause I love all the flavors and that theyre coming up with something different. I like the plain old lemon and lime, but they have a limoncello one that is new.

I finished my lunch break watching the womens semifinals from the ESPN production booth. The matches were former U.S. Open and Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka of Japan vs. Elise Mertens of Belgium, and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus vs. Johanna Konta of Great Britain. Then I prepared to go back on air to do live match commentary during the mens semifinals.

For dinner, I ate sesame chicken with peppers, onions, snow peas, sauted bok choy and vegetable fried rice, paired with a beautiful bottle of 2018 Matthiasson Village Cabernet Sauvignon. Oh, man. I love sesame chicken with a really nice fried rice. Thats definitely one of my favorites. I kind of like the little sweetness of it; I have a sweet tooth.

I do love my desserts. Ice cream is my favorite. Ben & Jerrys is usually on site here. But we dont have that this year, so Ive got to try to make do without that. That would be my late-night treat if Im doing a late match, Im getting a little tired, I need that sugar buzz. Im a big cookies and cream guy, and I love the basics, man. I love coffee. If I go for a flavor that has something mixed in I always go for plain vanilla, as well.

Saturday, August 29Before my 9 a.m. production meeting I made a delicious (and healthy!) smoothie with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, almond butter, almond milk, sliced almonds, and some Jarrow Formulas whey protein. I try not to pig out too much.

Following the meeting, I went down to the hotel bubble gym for a morning workout: 20-minute intervals of uphill walks/jog on the treadmill, followed by an upper-body workout with weights for my back and triceps.I got ready to go on air this afternoon on ESPN2. First was some pre-match commentary before the mens final between Novak Djokovic and Milos Raonic, then some live match commentary. After losing the first set, in true Djokovic fashion he came back to win the match, making him the 2020 Western & Southern Open Mens Champion and the favorite to win the U.S. Open (which he has previously won three times).

For lunch, I had a pesto quinoa salad with walnuts, garlic, sun-dried tomato, and mozzarella and of course some more La Croix sparkling water! The food is being catered by the tournament. Normally there is food everywhere and you can choose. This year because of the strict protocols we have to order our food through the catering three days in advance. They send you an email, and you have to answer what you want for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The pesto quinoa salad was tasty I was surprised. Ive really gotten into pesto, though. During quarantine, my wife made an unbelievable fresh pesto sauce a couple times. I never really liked pesto until I went to La Cinque Terre in Italy years ago, before my wife and I had kids. We were relatively newly married and her family has a lot of Italians in their background. We went on sort of a family trip there, and I just fell love in with the pesto sauce.

Growing up I was very basic meat and potatoes, you know my mom used to make a great Bolognese sauce. I feel like Ive branched out a little bit in my adult years. Traveling around the world definitely helped. A lot of the time, when I was on the tour, we were in Asia. Thats when I got into sushi, and some of the Chinese and Korean dishes I like. I love Korean barbecue I used to go down to a couple of the Korean barbecue places down in the Village when my wife and I lived in the city. Id be lying if I said I remembered the name.Hopefully theyre staying in business with this craziness.

My Saturday evening began with an important pre-U.S. Open announcer meeting that lasted about two and a half hours. For afterwards, they were kind enough to bring in some good old-fashioned New Yorkstyle pizza and fresh garden salads for everyone. Ive always loved pizza. When I was on tour, as soon as Id come back to New York, the first Id do is go get a slice. Im not that particular. Over the years Ive grown to like the really thin style, like you get in Italy. But a New York slice is still right up there.

Sunday, August 30For breakfast this morning I made one of my favorites: Fage Greek 2 percent yogurt with fresh blueberries, almonds, and a touch of honey mixed in. Breakfast was followed by my morning production meeting, and then I got ready to go live on air for a special U.S. Open edition of SportsCenter. I was on with my colleagues Chris McKendry, Darren Cahill, and Brad Gilbert, breaking down the mens draw and discussing the first round matches.

Once SportsCenter was done, I had a fresh turkey wrap with cranberries, goat cheese, and baby spinach, which I got to enjoy while watching Serena Williams have a practice session on Arthur Ashe Stadium Court. Its pretty cool to watch these great players practice. Serena tends to focus on a couple little things, Ive noticed, in her practices. Its amazing when you watch someone that good hone in on a couple things.

I had dinner in my hotel bubble room, a few slices of Coals thin-crust, grilled pizza with prosciutto and arugula, along with some roasted Brussels sprouts with walnuts and raisins (in recent years, Brussels sprouts have become one of my absolute favorite things to eat). Its really good, thats become one of my favorite staples up where I live. I was able to get that delivered to me last week at some point.

After dinner I recorded an episode of my podcast Holding Court (which I started earlier this year in quarantine, after testing positive for COVID-19). Normally I would be recording in my studio in the basement of my Westchester home, but my hotel bubble room works out just fine. I previewed the Open, most episodes feature me interviewing special guests/friends from the entertainment and sports worlds. My next guest this month will be tennis icon (and four-time U.S. Open Champion) Martina Navratilova; previous guests this summer have included Alec Baldwin, Ben Stiller, NBA greats Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki, tennis legend and six-time U.S. Open Champion (and my ESPN colleague) Chrissie Evert, and Billions creator and producer Brian Koppelman.

Once I finished taping my podcast episode, I did some U.S. Open prep work for the opening-day matches tomorrow. I then spent the rest of my night chilling with a glass of vino.

Monday, August 31 For breakfast I kept it simple, just a protein bar and coffee before heading to my 10 a.m. ESPN announcer meeting.

Then I did a late morning workout at the hotel bubble gym before heading back to the U.S. Open grounds to get ready to go on air around 1 p.m. for live match commentary with my brother John. But first, I had to pick my outfits for when Im on TV: I decided on a casual look for the day with a blue button-down shirt, and then a more snazzy look for the evening when Ill be back to call the second match of the night on ESPN2. I opted for a pinstripe blazer, a white button-down shirt, and a blue silk tie with white daisies on it.

For lunch, around 1:30 p.m., I had a chicken Caesar salad while calling the afternoon match with John. Its the first mens singles match on Arthur Ashe of the entire tournament featuring Alexander Zverev of Germany vs. Kevin Anderson of South Africa (a U.S. Open finalist in 2017, losing to Rafael Nadal). Zverev won. I like the chicken Caesar, I also like that I know what Im going to get here. That to me is fairly healthy, I go no croutons, the chicken is usually a pretty good quality chicken. The bonus is if I can warm up the chicken. Sometimes I go for a different dressing, like the balsamic vinaigrette. I dont always go for the Caesar. I just love salad, and I love grilled chicken, and I love Parmigiano.

After the match, I had a break before I got ready for Primetime that night. I was on air with Chrissie Evert at the famous Fountain Plaza to do the intro segment before the Opening Ceremony and the night matches. Later in the evening, Chrissie and I called the second match of the night on Arthur Ashe, Naomi Osaka vs. Misaki Doi. Osaka came out with the Breonna Taylor mask in the first round. Its amazing what shes done to put herself out there like that. Its definitely been a topic of discussion for us on air, and its something were continuing to watch. The tournament is going on, as is the NBA, and its been nice to see someone like Naomi step up and be the leader in the tennis world. Theres been a lot of incredible tennis people over the years obviously Billie Jean and Arthur Ashe being the most obvious who have spoken out about social issues and racial injustice. Theres no doubt that Naomi took a major step, stepping into the forefront.

Before I went back on air, for dinner I had sesame chicken again with peppers, onions, snow peas, sauted bok choy, and vegetable fried rice. The Osaka/Doi match started at 10:15 p.m. and finished just before midnight. Osaka pulled through and won it in the third set. But my night was not done one more match was being played, so Chrissie and I finished the night doing commentary for American Ali Riske vs. Germanys Tatjana Maria. Luckily, Riske cruised through the second set to win the match, which ended a few minutes after midnight.

BEDTIME!

Tuesday, September 1Before my 10 a.m. ESPN meeting, I made a power protein smoothie: spinach, frozen blueberries, bananas, raw almonds, peanut butter, flax seeds, chia seeds, half low fat organic milk/half almond milk, and ice. (I like it to be icy and thick.)

Had a late lunch at 3:50 p.m., a gluten-free chicken teriyaki wrap with cheddar cheese and fire-roasted peppers and onions. The chicken teriyaki wrap, Im not going back to that. Theres not going to be a second round. Normally I like chicken teriyaki if its hot and with rice and theres broccoli and stuff. But the wrap was a mess. I wasnt down with that at all.

It was a light day for me. I had most of the day off, and then did the Venus Williams match at night. That was a pretty good match. She played a seeded player from the Czech Republic, Karolna Muchov, who is a very good player. It was the first time in 22 years that Venus Williams lost in the first round of the U.S. Open. She never has. Its amazing shes still playing at 40. She hasnt been a factor the last few years as far as winning one of these, but the fact that shes still out there playing, and she loves it, is pretty remarkable.

Serena is going to be 39 and shes still a factor to win this. Its just remarkable to consider how they started, and their dad said they were going to retire in their early 20s and do other things. The fact of the matter is they have done other things. I think in a way thats helped them have the longevity to want to keep playing tennis for this long.

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Patrick McEnroe Has Branched Out From His Meat and Potatoes Childhood - Grub Street

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