Famously dubbed "Superbrat" by the British tabloid press, John McEnroe is doomed to have his remarkable athletic accomplishments overshadowed by the media perception of him as a whining, petulant crybaby. But the achievements of one of the most talented male players to ever step on a tennis court cannot be separated from the renewed buzz about the sport generated by his infuriating on-court antics. Simply put, if John McEnroe had not come along, tennis in the 1970s would have had to invent him.

The son of a U.S. Air Force officer, McEnroe grew up in Long Island's Gold Coast. But McEnroe was no ordinary suburban tennis brat. He impressed his instructors with his ability to make difficult shots at a young age. Schooled at an elite tennis academy (he was eventually thrown out for bad behavior), McEnroe later attended Stanford University, and made...