McEnroe gets early birthday gift with doubles win

John McEnroe rolled back the years yesterday to partner Swede Jonas Bjorkman to a first round doubles win at the SAP Open. Bjorkman and McEnroe, on the eve of his 47th birthday, beat the No. 2 seeded doubles team of Wayne Arthurs and Stephen Huss 6-3,...

John McEnroe rolled back the years yesterday to partner Swede Jonas Bjorkman to a first round doubles win at the SAP Open.

Bjorkman and McEnroe, on the eve of his 47th birthday, beat the No. 2 seeded doubles team of Wayne Arthurs and Stephen Huss 6-3, 6-3.

"I want to inspire the old people," McEnroe said. "The old dog wants to teach the young guys a few new tricks." McEnroe, who last played an ATP Tour match in 1994, was presented with a birthday cake and fans sang "Happy Birthday" to him after the match.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.