Long before John McEnroe was making news in bringing  his own memorable mix of magic and madness to the court, he was delivering news.

"(I was a) paperboy for the local Queens paper," McEnroe said in recalling his first foray into the working world. "Don’t remember the name actually"

In a four-decade playing career, McEnroe developed into a human headline maker capable of both electrifying and alienating crowds with his performance and personality.

The Hall of Famer celebrates his 50th birthday on Monday and will prepare for that personal milestone doing what he's done so uniquely for much of his adult life: playing a tournament.

McEnroe will defend his Champions Cup Boston title at Boston University's Agganis Arena this weekend. McEnroe, 14-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras, two-time French and Australian Open champion Jim Courier, three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander, 1994 Australian and 1999 US Open finalist Todd Martin and 1986 French Open finalist Mikael Pernfors form the field for the event.

McEnroe continues to confront advancing age with a forward rush.

Moving forward fluidly, McEnroe won his first ever title on the Outback Champions Series at the $150,000 Champions Cup Boston last spring, beating Pete Sampras enroute to the final then rallying from a set down to defeat fellow American Aaron Krickstein 5-7, 6-3, 10-5 (Champions tie break) in the championship match at the Agganis Arena.

"For my favorite fan base — 75-year old women — this proves to you that you can still be young at an advanced age," said McEnroe, who previously lost Outback Champions Series singles finals in Boston in 2006, Newport, R.I., in 2007 and Naples, Fla., in 2008. "I've been playing for a couple of years with frustration and wondering if I was ever going to win again. If you had told me I would have to play Courier and Sampras, I thought I was screwed. Aaron was playing really well, but I found another gear in the tiebreaker. I knew I could win if I played the way I was capable of."

McEnroe was a pivotal player in propelling tennis' popularity to historic heights in the 1970s and 1980s

The captivating clashes between McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg as well as the long-running women's rivalry between Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova helped create the tennis boon and transformed tennis in the United States from an elitist sport to a game that grabbed the attention of the masses. Surveying the landscape of tennis today, McEnroe said he believes tennis is making progress in promoting itself and proposes several suggestions to expand the fan base of the sport he once ruled.

McEnroe has often said shortening the schedule, recognizing Davis Cup as a vital competition, actively promoting the Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer rivalry and encouraging players to express their individuality on court could all help the growth of the game.

"I would try to change the schedule," McEnroe said in a past interview. "I don't know how quickly you can do that or how successful you could be. I think an eight or nine-month season at the maximum should be what we have. I would try to implement that...I would make a determination about Davis Cup because I feel like Davis Cup, incredibly, is something that's a forgotten part of our sport, where it seems like it should be a no-brainer as far as being a positive...It sees like the Ryder Cup has grown and grown and it sees like Davis Cup has gone the other way, and I hate to see that happen."

Men's tennis has its share of players with distinctive personalities who express emotion on court including Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin, Rafael Nadal and Marcos Baghdatis. McEnroe suggests past tour policy served as a tennis restraining order in restricting players' self-expression and regards that as a mistake.

"The inmates running the asylum, so to speak, which they felt was happening in tennis with myself and Connors and Nastase, they really tightened that a little too much," McEnroe said. "I think they discouraged personality, which I think was a big mistake. Now they realize that, in fact, they needed that."

He routinely gives up a decade or more in age to his opponents on the senior tour and yet remains both a competitive force and the tour's biggest draw.

"I have always tried to support the  senior tour and I think it adds a little flavor to our sport. So I do plan to play select events in the future," McEnroe told Tennis Week. "I've tried to bridge the gap between the days when Connors and Borg were playing the senior tour to today when Courier and Sampras are playing  and keep it going. The idea of playing four days in a row on clay is becoming more and more difficult so I do plan  to reduce my schedule and try to be able to pick and choose my tournaments and opponents in the future — that's the  plan...In some sense with Sampras and Todd Martin playing the odds are stacking up and if I can still go out there and play well, even if I'm not expected to win, that's an achievement. It's more inspiring for me to play  a Sampras and some of the top guys than some of the others on the tour, no disrespect to them, but I've been doing this for a while. It's been 15 years I've been playing on the senior tour going back to the Connors Champions Tour so it's not as if I haven't paid my dues and I've made an attempt to make this a viable product. As anyone around  the sport knows, tennis is a tougher and tougher sell in a very competitive time with so many sports competing for attention and we have to reach out more and more and figure out ways to make tennis more available and appealing and this is one of the ways  to do it."

Scoop Malinowski recently caught up with McEnroe for this Biofile interview. 

Born On:  February 16, 1959 in Weisbaden, Germany.

Height/Weight:  5-foot-11, 165 pounds.

Childhood Heroes: "Joe Namath, Rod Laver, Mickey Mantle."

Early Tennis Memory: "Playing Tommy Buford — the tournament director’s son — in a 12 & under in Tennessee. I won 6-3, 6-2 in three and a half hours. After he started moon balling me."

Favorite Movies: "One Flew Over The Cuckoos’ Nest, On The Waterfront, Rebel Without A Cause."

Musical Tastes: "Rock, blues, guitar, Rolling Stones."

Pre-Match Feeling: "Be prepared. In condition. Have a number of different game plans. For me, it’s preparation to be ready to play. To be ready right at the beginning. It’s actually going back to basics. Making sure you have things in order. I used to take little cards out — very basic things. I might look at to keep my mind focused…ball toss, to keep the wrist firm on the volley."

First Job: "Paperboy for the local Queens paper. Don’t remember the name actually. You stumped me [smiles]."

First Car: "Early 1970’s orange Ford Pinto. Cost me $100, sold it for $50."

Favorite Meal: "I’m pretty flexible actually. But I think Italian is my favorite. Pasta. But I eat everything."

Favorite Breakfast Cereal: "Wheaties. Not that I’ll be on the (box) cover real soon or anything. I don’t know if I deserve to give it to them that, but Breakfast of Champions."

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Cookies ‘n cream."

Funny Tennis Memory: "I guess playing Nastase at the U.S. Open 27 years ago (’79). Funny now, when I look back on it. It wasn’t funny at the time. Just having the referee default him and then have (the umpire) thrown out of the chair, and someone else come out. And people throwing stuff on the court and it was just complete chaos [smiles]. That’s sort of the way I liked it, so it was fun."

Greatest Sports Moment: "I don’t think I could pick one. It’s a combination of the obvious — Wimbledon, Davis Cup and The Open. The basics."

Most Painful Moment: "Losing the French in ‘84. That definitely was. I was totally outplaying Lendl on clay. Up two sets to love. And I let my emotions slip away from me. Cost me the match (6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 5-7 - Lendl’s first major). It turned around his career. He won six or seven (actually eight) majors. What I did was make someone I basically despised, a great champion."

Mac On Federer: "Federer plays tennis the way I dreamed of playing."

Mac On Nadal: "His energy level and intensity are incredible."

Favorite Players To Watch: "Players who show personality. Who enjoy being out there. The key — to me — it’s the energy of the crowd. And how into it the players are. Because a lot of guys can play. The key is to bring something extra to the match. Not enough people are doing that — to make a lot of exciting matches. That separates the people that people want to see and the people that are just good tennis players."

Embarrassing Tennis Memory: "Playing the Stockholm Open, semifinal against Anders Jarryd. Late in the third set, there was a line call that didn’t look so great. I went ballistic. Called the umpire a jerk. Whacked a ball into the stands. Then smacked a soda can with my racket, and got soda all over the King of Sweden who was sitting in the front row."

People Qualities Most Admired: "In general, people — it’s not easy to go out there and give 100 percent. And run the risk of losing. I respect that the most in athletes. The guys that go out there and play hard. They don’t give up on it. You can’t be a loser if you go out there and give it your best. You’re a winner if you go out and do that. Most people can’t do that, shockingly enough. They find ways to quit. To me, that’s the biggest quality. And the other one would be honesty. To be honest."

Career Accomplishments: Former world No. 1; 3 Wimbledon titles; 4 U.S. Opens; 41 singles and 18 doubles victories in Davis Cup play; 31-20 career record vs. Connors; 9 Grand Slam doubles titles; 1 Grand Slam mixed doubles title; 77 career singles titles; 78 career doubles titles; Inducted into Tennis Hall of Fame 1999.

Scoop Malinowski created the Biofile interview in 1992. Scoop is a Tennisweek.com contributor, noted boxing expert and accomplished recreational tennis player who has competed in the USTA Nationals and the National Public Parks Championships at the National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. Scoop's latest book "Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle" is available at www.amazon.com. Scoop, who once verbally sparred with Tyson at a press conference before the pair eventually made peace, is currently in deep training in Florida to defend his Tennis Week singles title.