Game, Set, Shad: John McEnroe hoping to shape future of tennis with academy

Remember the way John McEnroe used to play? His game had variety, angles, hard shots, soft shots, net play, baseline play, serves and volleys, strategy and most of all limiting mistakes. What he likes to call "The don't beat yourself theory."

While Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic all have excellent variety in their games, the 20-something crowd in men's tennis has certainly shifted more to a power-centric game. That's what you see more often than not at the BNP Paribas Open.

But there is someone trying to teach young players to play the way McEnroe used to play. That person is John McEnroe.

McEnroe was at Indian Wells on Saturday to talk about his John McEnroe Tennis Academy, a program that helps the most promising young American talents reach the next level with financial assistance when it comes to training and international travel.

During a news conference Saturday along with BNP Paribas bank which works with the academy, McEnroe said he was happy to see that one exception to the young crowd is new No. 1 Daniil Medvedev.

"You don't see that too much on the circuit, but interestingly enough, the guy that's the new No. 1 in the world, he doesn't beat himself too often," McEnroe said. "He gets a lot of balls back as opposed to the new type of tennis that's 'Wham! Bam! Thank you, mam,' and it's over in a couple shots. I like to see more strategy, nuances and something that, me personally, I'd like to see and the sport will benefit from it in the future I believe."

Personally, I would like to see longer rallies in the men's game, but there is something about blistering power that is impressive to watch, too.

Either way, if 10 years from now, the ATP tour has 20 mini-John McEnroes running around out there, I think that is something most tennis fans, myself included, would get behind.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: John McEnroe hoping to shape future of tennis with academy