MCENROE MUSINGS

Before making his only World Team Tennis appearance of the season Tuesday, when his New York Sportimes lost to the host Newport Beach Breakers, Hall of Famer John McEnroe served up his opinions on issues involving the WTT.

On Pete Sampras’ struggles: “From what I hear he hadn’t picked up a racquet in three years. Tennis fitness is a lot different than regular fitness. It’s difficult playing guys in a situation where you have nothing to gain. But if he sticks with it, he’ll get way better, no doubt about it.”

On competing with Sampras: “Whether or not I can beat him right now is irrelevant, because he’s getting beat by a lot of people. But you never know, he might rise to the occasion. I mean, I’m 47, he’s what, 34, 35? I don’t know, I’ve seen him hit 130-mph serves in that little spot in the corner. I didn’t have a lot of success against him in the [the ATP Tour], so I’m not going to rave too much about my chances now.”

On Breakers’ wild-card berth: “The first I heard about it was 15 minutes ago. I don’t know, you need to do what’s good for the sport. I don’t have a problem with it. It’s a way to assure you have the guy there that you want. Of course, if Sampras wasn’t there, if he got injured, it wouldn’t make a lot of sense.”

On participating: “To be honest, it’s something I do out of respect for [WTT co-founder] Billie Jean King.

On his game: “As Connie Hawkins used to say, ‘The older I get, the better I used to be.’ ”