He continues to draw the crowds because of a temper that once stripped the paint and withered the grass at Wimbledon. But now John McEnroe is 40, married for the second time and has six children, the last one 10 months ago. His interests are art and tennis. Not the profile of an angst-ridden revolutionary who once stormed around the globe picking up Grand Slams and tormenting anyone that appeared on court in a blazer, shirt and tie.

But the New Yorker has always been more complex and interesting than your regular raving sports celebrity. For someone who was occasionally so senseless on court, he has always been sought out for opinions of it. It is his perceptions on the game and his forthright opinions that now earn him a substantial income as a tennis commentator for a US network. Tennis America have also given him the opportunity to captain the USA Davis Cup team. Memories in tennis officialdom can be very short.

McEnroe, who arrives in Dublin next week for the Senior Tour event at The Point, has always unfashionably wrapped himself around the stars and stripes. Those who have been more inclined to earn ATP points and World rankings at the expense of playing for their country have felt the lash of his tongue. Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras are no exceptions and McEnroe has not held back.

But he is also still playing. And he plays well, probably at a high enough level to compete, with the right partner, on the regular circuit as a doubles player. Last year at Wimbledon he and Steffi Graf could have won the mixed doubles event until the German pulled out because of a slight injury and her pending doomed singles final against Lindsay Davenport.

But the Seniors Tour is something he has taken to with typical relish. Although it was his great rival and no great friend Jimmy Connors who started the band wagon moving, McEnroe has become the unofficial spokesman simply through the power of his personality. Like Davis Cup tennis, he has invested emotion and belief.

"I believe that when you step on the court you are going out there to win and I think that people watching will sense if you don't care," he says. "I think the more sincerity people see when you go out there and give it your all is how to approach it and that's how I approach it. It rubs off on the other players and I think the effort level has gone up in the last few years. That's good for any sport.

At the beginning, the Seniors Tour was seen as "hit and giggle", a chance for Ile Nastase and his poor imitations to hand their racquets to the prettiest ball girls so the crowd would erupt. But the vaudeville act wore out quickly and the players, as in golf, have turned to a more intensely competitive forum. Although relying largely on nostalgia, McEnroe is still by far the biggest draw but so too are Bjorn Borg, Pat Cash and Henri Leconte, all of whom will be in Dublin.

"It's the first time we've played in Ireland and I'm very excited about it," he says. "I hope there will be a good response. I always look forward to going to Ireland. I have roots there and as far as I'm concerned the fans can expect a very competitive tournament."

After London, where I won the last event, I sprained my ankle playing basketball for the first time in three or four years. That actually set me back for a few weeks. Dublin will be my first Senior event after that. But I had great treatment and I'm playing much better, feeling more confident and I'll be ready to go next week. I anticipate playing well.

"I think I'm still playing good tennis. I hit with the guys on the Davis Cup team and I think that they respect that I still play good doubles," says the veteran who played in the competition for 12 years. "It's a dream of mine to play a match in the Davis Cup again. It's quite an emotional thing and I'm kinda an emotional person and I like the energy when people play and I like the noise."

Currently McEnroe is ranked number one on the circuit, which travels around city to city like the regular ATP circuit with ranking points allocated to the players at each event. Behind McEnroe in the world rankings is Leconte, Mats Wilander and Connors. The hope is that when Agassi and Sampras finish their careers they too will come through. Agassi aside, however, there are doubts about the strength of personality coming through, even to sustain the regular tour.

"If you don't believe tennis can gain the popularity it had in the 70s then it's not going to happen," he says. "So I certainly believe that you have to go with that approach. You make the players accessible and make them realise they can be in on turning it around. Any one on one game is a personality game. "In any sport that's driven by personality . . . you look at golf what's happened with Tiger Woods an in boxing too. In any individual sport you need that. So clearly with the arrival of the Willaims sisters and with the resurgence of Agassi the window is open. There is no question that's important. People want to believe they can relate to you on some level."

The left hander argues that matches against guys you have been playing for 20 years are still episodes into the unknown. It is not the same cracked vinyl disc. Not even Borg, whose name the Star Trek series adopted to depict a life form of unimaginable boredom and logic, always plays to the same tune.

"You'd be amazed that the good guys usually have more than one game plan. You've gotta have more than one option. Those guys in my history have brought out the best and worst in me. There have been so many battles, it makes it more intriguing," he says.

The cult remains strong and his temper questionable. But he plans to open a tennis academy in Flushing Meadow, New York, to teach the kids how to play the McEnroe way. He wants to stand up to the plate and hit for the game. Soft wrists, unreadable serve, supreme speed.

A big Academy?

"The biggest in the United States, I hope," he says.

Of course.

Tournament of Champions, The Point February 17th-20th. Booking information 8363633.