{"title":"John McEnroe","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"david-yarrow-mcenroe-borg","title":"Mcenroe\/Borg","description":"Mcenroe\/Borg\u003cbr\u003e Brooklyn, New York, USA – 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Although they only played each other 14 times, McEnroe versus Borg became one of the most celebrated rivalries in the history of sport and New York played the lead role in its final denouement. When McEnroe defeated Borg in four sets in the Us Open Final of 1981 at Flushing Meadows, Borg left the stadium immediately and never played in a major tournament again. He was just 25 years old.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The late 1970s and early 1980s were heady days for the Us Open. New York was rocking to a disco beat and American men and women dominated the higher seedings. In the latter stages of the men’s tournament, McEnroe would often face fellow countrymen such as Jimmy Connors and Vitas Gerulaitis. McEnroe and Gerulaitis - both New Yorkers and good friends - were known to head for Studio 54 once their night matches were over at Flushing Meadows.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e My plan was to celebrate this era by hosting a little gathering on a New York subway car from the same period. The way to do this was to hire the New York Transit Museum for the day and dress one of the period cars as if it were 1981. I had my lead in the wonderfully unique John McEnroe; a formidable and gritty New Yorker who wears a subway look with ease. I asked him to bring his guitar which, of course, like a tennis racket, he plays left-handed and plays well.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Today’s McEnroe was joined on his subway ride by characters all styled in the same era. Borg was a necessary extra somewhere in the carriage and we found a strong look alike. He was joined by a couple of Pan Am stewardesses and then, of course, it being New York, we had to make reference to the Village People. The final piece of the jigsaw was the subway adverts on the left and my team did a fine job finding the McEnroe Nike advert.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e That would have been one hell of a journey on the subway. Whatever John McEnroe’s journey from here, it will be on his own terms and will be pursued with the intensity that has characterised his storied career. To be number one in the world for 170 weeks is the mark of a fiercely competitive character.  It was an honour to spend time with him.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 142 cm (image size) | 132 x 180 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923378765911,"sku":"DY-PH-Mcenroe\/Borg-94 x 142 cm (image size) | 132 x 180 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":26500.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 213 cm (image size) | 180 x 251 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923378798679,"sku":"DY-PH-Mcenroe\/Borg-142 x 213 cm (image size) | 180 x 251 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":33920.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_349_mcenroe_borg_132x180_4dcc4dcb-5e07-4824-a3aa-d850228ba60f.jpg?v=1780584035"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-village-people","title":"Village People","description":"Village People\u003cbr\u003e Manhatten, New York – 2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e McSorley’s Old Ale House in the East Village is one of the most celebrated Irish bars on the Eastern Seaboard of America. Founded in 1854, it seemingly hasn’t changed much in 170 years and if the walls could talk, it would - “to be sure” - be one very long monologue.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The walls are a museum of the Irish in Manhattan and the joint has such a discernible vibe that Martin Scorsese and his crew did much of their press briefings for The Gangs of New York in the front bar. In the Great War, young soldiers heading to Europe in 1917, left a turkey wish bone on a wire above the bar; the bones of those who never returned still hang there in front of various Jfk memorabilia. The pub has been in the same Irish family hands for three generations and I was honoured to discover that the current custodian - Gregory - was a collector of my work. Naively, we tried to visit him on St Patrick’s Day, but couldn’t get within 200 yards of the pub. The next day, we had more luck and I was charmed not just by Gregory, but by the whole vibe of the joint. It is a truly special place and I knew I had to film there.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e I didn’t have long to wait for the opportunity as John McEnroe - one of the most loved and talented of all American sporting legends and a truly uncompromising New Yorker - had agreed to be filmed by me in the city. Although the McEnroes are of Irish origin and therefore McSorley’s seemed like an appropriate destination, the reason that the location made sense went far deeper than that; John personifies the gritty, uncompromising New Yorker who fights for what he believes to be right - he always has. My leaning was the sawdust laden floors of McSorley’s offered a far more appropriate platform to film this blunt, quintessential, street fighter than some smart Upper East side Italian restaurant or cocktail bar. We were going Irish and tough.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e McEnroe’s most famous rebuke to an umpire was the “you cannot be serious” line and I thought those words somewhere in McSorley’s - no matter how incongruous they would be to the rest of the décor - would complement John well. I asked him to bring his Gibson guitar and not a tennis racket, as music now defines him as much tennis and besides, we did give a nod to his rival Bjorn Borg in the photograph.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e We were on a creative roll now and I sensed we could add further to the visual overload. The band Village People seemed like a good additive, after-all, we were in the Village and they were of the McEnroe Borg era. Then, since we were playing to a sense of community, I thought we may as well throw in a lady of the night. Luckily Vivian from Pretty Woman was on hand to help.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e It is a bar full of Village People, which is what McSorley’s presumably was in 1854. McEnroe looks pure Rock and Roll bad ass. To anyone that says, I would not want to be in that bar, I would simply reply “You cannot be serious”.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 150 cm (image size) | 132 x 188 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923431391319,"sku":"DY-PH-Village People-94 x 150 cm (image size) | 132 x 188 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":42400.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 229 cm (image size) | 180 x 267 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923431424087,"sku":"DY-PH-Village People-142 x 229 cm (image size) | 180 x 267 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":49820.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_355_the_village_people_132x188_9d77ea75-af96-483a-a8b6-6934fc39b053.jpg?v=1780584771"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-the-jackson-4","title":"The Jackson 4","description":"The Jackson 4\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming opened its doors in 1937 and has become one of the most recognisable and celebrated cowboy bars in America. It offers a backdrop to hundreds of “selfies” every day and its longevity as an institution has allowed it to be permanently woven into the fabric of Americana. Very few country music stars have circumvented the Cowboy Bar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI see it primarily as a place of the night, not the day; the fabled neon lights mark the epicentre of a community that retains an understated cowboy charm despite the huge wealth that sits in the Teton amphitheater. I have only ever photographed the facade of this bar in the middle of the night - it just seems the right option. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn this occasion, my creative leaning was to tell a 1970s music story with the nighttime facade of the bar as my backdrop.  After all, little has changed here since the 1970s and this is a music venue first and foremost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Vw bus was an obvious starting prop, but perhaps less likely was my choice of band leader - the American sporting icon - John McEnroe.  John is a passionate guitarist, so I knew this role would appeal to his forever engaged mind.  He was also something of a cowboy when it came to showing deference to authority in the tennis world. John brought the Wild West to Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, so it was a natural fit at several levels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI believe that my Jackson 4 caught the right vibe that night and the falling snow adds to the sense of place. I would imagine that back in the day many cowboys would have paid good money to swap with John and be on the road with these girls. But he has currency - he is, after all, John McEnroe.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 97 cm (image size) | 132 x 135 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923636256855,"sku":"DY-PH-The Jackson 4-94 x 97 cm (image size) | 132 x 135 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":37100.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 145 cm (image size) | 180 x 183 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923636289623,"sku":"DY-PH-The Jackson 4-142 x 145 cm (image size) | 180 x 183 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":44520.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_617_the_jackson_4_132x135_02b1d70d-b43e-40c2-a377-e21ee7619c89.jpg?v=1780588853"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-the-jackson-4-colour","title":"The Jackson 4 (Colour)","description":"The Jackson 4 (Colour)\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming opened its doors in 1937 and has become one of the most recognisable and celebrated cowboy bars in America. It offers a backdrop to hundreds of “selfies” every day and its longevity as an institution has allowed it to be permanently woven into the fabric of Americana. Very few country music stars have circumvented the Cowboy Bar.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI see it primarily as a place of the night, not the day; the fabled neon lights mark the epicentre of a community that retains an understated cowboy charm despite the huge wealth that sits in the Teton amphitheater. I have only ever photographed the facade of this bar in the middle of the night - it just seems the right option. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn this occasion, my creative leaning was to tell a 1970s music story with the nighttime facade of the bar as my backdrop.  After all, little has changed here since the 1970s and this is a music venue first and foremost.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Vw bus was an obvious starting prop, but perhaps less likely was my choice of band leader - the American sporting icon - John McEnroe.  John is a passionate guitarist, so I knew this role would appeal to his forever engaged mind.  He was also something of a cowboy when it came to showing deference to authority in the tennis world. John brought the Wild West to Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows, so it was a natural fit at several levels.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI believe that my Jackson 4 caught the right vibe that night and the falling snow adds to the sense of place. I would imagine that back in the day many cowboys would have paid good money to swap with John and be on the road with these girls. But he has currency - he is, after all, John McEnroe.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 97 cm (image size) | 132 x 135 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923637600343,"sku":"DY-PH-The Jackson 4 (Colour)-94 x 97 cm (image size) | 132 x 135 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":37100.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 145 cm (image size) | 180 x 183 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923637633111,"sku":"DY-PH-The Jackson 4 (Colour)-142 x 145 cm (image size) | 180 x 183 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":44520.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_618_the_jackson_4_colour_132x135_346f9ff0-9ac5-4372-99f8-7e0993e63bb1.jpg?v=1780588873"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-being-john-mcenroe","title":"Being John McEnroe","description":"Being John Mcenroe\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Silver Dollar Saloon at the Wort Hotel in Jackson Hole is a celebrated institution. There are quite a few bars scattered across the Us sharing the same name, but I doubt many share the vice like grip that this venue holds over the local community.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI sat with the Gm over Thanksgiving lunch in 2025 and he told me that they would hope to do 650 covers that day.  That is a material operation, not the numbers of a poorly operated dive bar. There are no central archetypes at the Silver Dollar - it seems to play host to anyone living in the zip code and that makes for a rich visual feast. There are, however, more cowboy hats here than in a Parisian cafe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe lead feature of the saloon is a neon illuminated winding bar which incorporates over 2,000 silver dollar coins into its resin surface - it’s part disco, part Lonesome Dove and it should not work aesthetically and yet it emphatically does.  It was clearly the central prop around which to build this carefully staged vignette.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy central character for this set was the unique national treasure that is John McEnroe - musician, tennis legend, commentator, artist and general badass.  John cannot really be pigeonholed into a convenient silo but give him a Gibson guitar and a cowboy hat and he looks much more at home here in the heart of the American West than he ever did at Wimbledon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe had fun with the set dressing; I wanted a few nods to his presence in the bar which all added to the parody. I think an evening unfolding like this is entirely plausible at the Silver Dollar.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 165 cm (image size) | 132 x 203 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923638943831,"sku":"DY-PH-Being John McEnroe-94 x 165 cm (image size) | 132 x 203 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":31800.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 251 cm (image size) | 180 x 290 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923638976599,"sku":"DY-PH-Being John McEnroe-142 x 251 cm (image size) | 180 x 290 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":39220.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_619_being_john_mcenroe_132x203_bb87f8fc-8823-484c-871f-8a79ab69de98.jpg?v=1780588897"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-being-john-mcenroe-colour","title":"Being John McEnroe (Colour)","description":"Being John McEnroe (Colour)\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Silver Dollar Saloon at the Wort Hotel in Jackson Hole is a celebrated institution. There are quite a few bars scattered across the Us sharing the same name, but I doubt many share the vice like grip that this venue holds over the local community.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI sat with the Gm over Thanksgiving lunch in 2025 and he told me that they would hope to do 650 covers that day.  That is a material operation, not the numbers of a poorly operated dive bar. There are no central archetypes at the Silver Dollar - it seems to play host to anyone living in the zip code and that makes for a rich visual feast. There are, however, more cowboy hats here than in a Parisian cafe.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe lead feature of the saloon is a neon illuminated winding bar which incorporates over 2,000 silver dollar coins into its resin surface - it’s part disco, part Lonesome Dove and it should not work aesthetically and yet it emphatically does.  It was clearly the central prop around which to build this carefully staged vignette.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy central character for this set was the unique national treasure that is John McEnroe - musician, tennis legend, commentator, artist and general badass.  John cannot really be pigeonholed into a convenient silo but give him a Gibson guitar and a cowboy hat and he looks much more at home here in the heart of the American West than he ever did at Wimbledon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe had fun with the set dressing; I wanted a few nods to his presence in the bar which all added to the parody. I think an evening unfolding like this is entirely plausible at the Silver Dollar.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 165 cm (image size) | 132 x 203 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923639009367,"sku":"DY-PH-Being John McEnroe (Colour)-94 x 165 cm (image size) | 132 x 203 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":31800.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 251 cm (image size) | 180 x 290 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923639042135,"sku":"DY-PH-Being John McEnroe (Colour)-142 x 251 cm (image size) | 180 x 290 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":39220.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_620_being_john_mcenroe_colour_132x203_b8b9d310-720a-4086-b862-40e68fa150d2.jpg?v=1780588925"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-you-cannot-be-serious","title":"You Cannot be Serious","description":"You Cannot Be Serious\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn McEnroe is a sporting gunslinger, an urban cowboy and an utterly unique individual. He has never been one to accept convention or authority and was perfectly qualified therefore to play a lead role when we told a few stories one winter evening outside the legendary Millon Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming.  He is everything I remember from him on court - competitive, questioning and sometimes irascible, but always alert and on point. We enjoy working with him as it prompts us to be at our creative best. I like to be on my toes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn is a true American icon with some extraordinary gifts in the hand, eye, ball department. But he can also hold a good line in reasoned debate - which is why he has become a voice of authority on many issues over and above tennis. His dad was, of course, a lawyer, as indeed is his brother Mark who joined us on this trip. My sense is that over the years the McEnroes have won most of the arguments they have entered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy creative predilection is to be wry rather than earnest and when we involve someone who has led as full a life as John, we would never want to ever suggest that we have earned the right to do anything other than have fun. We will work quick and smart and will not abuse his time - he has certainly earned that right. We will leave the loftier ambitions to artists elsewhere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI think John loves music as much as sport and of course the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is first and foremost a music venue. I am sure that were his dear friend - the late, great Jimmy Buffett - to see this image, he would raise his glass and develop a wry smile.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"99 x 94 cm (image size) | 137 x 132 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923641663575,"sku":"DY-PH-You Cannot be Serious-99 x 94 cm (image size) | 137 x 132 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":31800.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"150 x 142 cm (image size) | 188 x 180 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923641696343,"sku":"DY-PH-You Cannot be Serious-150 x 142 cm (image size) | 188 x 180 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":39220.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_623_you_cannot_be_serious_137x132_42f968ee-880c-4253-9353-ceef4ae1a199.jpg?v=1780588991"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-you-cannot-be-serious-colour","title":"You Cannot be Serious (Colour)","description":"You Cannot be Serious (Colour)\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn McEnroe is a sporting gunslinger, an urban cowboy and an utterly unique individual. He has never been one to accept convention or authority and was perfectly qualified therefore to play a lead role when we told a few stories one winter evening outside the legendary Millon Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming.  He is everything I remember from him on court - competitive, questioning and sometimes irascible, but always alert and on point. We enjoy working with him as it prompts us to be at our creative best. I like to be on my toes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn is a true American icon with some extraordinary gifts in the hand, eye, ball department. But he can also hold a good line in reasoned debate - which is why he has become a voice of authority on many issues over and above tennis. His dad was, of course, a lawyer, as indeed is his brother Mark who joined us on this trip. My sense is that over the years the McEnroes have won most of the arguments they have entered.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMy creative predilection is to be wry rather than earnest and when we involve someone who has led as full a life as John, we would never want to ever suggest that we have earned the right to do anything other than have fun. We will work quick and smart and will not abuse his time - he has certainly earned that right. We will leave the loftier ambitions to artists elsewhere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI think John loves music as much as sport and of course the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar is first and foremost a music venue. I am sure that were his dear friend - the late, great Jimmy Buffett - to see this image, he would raise his glass and develop a wry smile.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"99 x 94 cm (image size) | 137 x 132 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923642941527,"sku":"DY-PH-You Cannot be Serious (Colour)-99 x 94 cm (image size) | 137 x 132 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":31800.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"150 x 142 cm (image size) | 188 x 180 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923642974295,"sku":"DY-PH-You Cannot be Serious (Colour)-150 x 142 cm (image size) | 188 x 180 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":39220.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_624_you_cannot_be_serious_colour_137x132_678efac2-66fc-4c27-929c-6f8a38bcbe38.jpg?v=1780589015"},{"product_id":"david-yarrow-the-wanted","title":"The Wanted","description":"The Wanted\u003cbr\u003eJackson Hole, Wyoming – 2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn McEnroe was never an easy man to govern; he had too much armoury on the tennis court for his opponents and too much attitude off it for officialdom. He was an untamed street fighter who did not like to be told what to do and this inevitably led to moments of tension. McEnroe was pure box office and there has never really been anyone since.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was this context that prompted me to cast him as a gunslinging outlaw in the chaotic and bloody days of the Wild West. He seemed to fit the bill much better than most of his contemporaries (though to his point - Jimmy Connors - ran him close).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI understood that the faux saloon we built in the Tetons of Wyoming would have a wider narrative if there was some sense of place and indeed a sense of the cold.  There needed to be a fusion of the inside and the outside - never the simplest of tricks.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWe ended up building the structure very close to where Tarantino shot the winter seasons in Django - I sense that he is not a bad judge of locations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJohn was a leftie with a tennis racket and, of course, he instinctively picked up this pistol with his left hand. As with Wimbledon over 40 years ago, his presence holds court - there is a palpable sense of menace.","brand":"David Yarrow","offers":[{"title":"94 x 117 cm (image size) | 132 x 155 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923646709847,"sku":"DY-PH-The Wanted-94 x 117 cm (image size) | 132 x 155 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":31800.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true},{"title":"142 x 178 cm (image size) | 180 x 216 cm (framed size)","offer_id":43923646742615,"sku":"DY-PH-The Wanted-142 x 178 cm (image size) | 180 x 216 cm (framed size)-AR-SI-N\/A","price":39220.0,"currency_code":"CHF","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0274\/0553\/files\/yarrow_david_627_the_wanted_132x155_769033e4-1967-495c-8c28-dc7cc50ba8d7.jpg?v=1780589099"}],"url":"https:\/\/petragut.com\/collections\/john-mcenroe.oembed","provider":"Petra Gut Contemporary AG","version":"1.0","type":"link"}