ESPN tennis analyst and former player Patrick McEnroe takes a swing at some Q&A with Post columnist Steve Serby ahead of the start of the U.S. Open later this month.

Q: How does Jannik Sinner (knee) withdrawing from the U.S. Open change your overall view?

A: It’s opportunity for the rest of the field. [Carlos] Alcaraz hasn’t played a tournament since early in the spring, so to expect him to go all the way would be I think a bit of a stretch, although he’s certainly capable of doing that. But if you’re Ben Shelton, or Taylor Fritz, or Alexander Zverez or any of these other guys that are sort of second-tier guys, you got to be licking your chips right now that this could be [their] one chance.

Q: Your updated prediction?

A: I think I’m going to go with Ben Shelton now. … He’s had the best summer, winning Canada, he’s got the most upside I’ve been talking about of all the American men for a couple of years now. With Alcaraz being a little bit suspect, he could get upset, he could lose early, and I think Shelton has a decent game to match up with him. Clearly, if they played late in the tournament, that would mean that Alcaraz is feeling pretty good and would likely be the favorite if they do play, but I think if ever there were an opportunity for Big Ben to kind of put it all together, this would be the spot, this would be the place. He’s going to have a very high seed, he probably will be seeded 4 or 5 or 6, so if he can stay away from Alcaraz in the quarterfinals, I just think it’s a great opportunity, and I think he’s going to revel in the New York crowd.

Q: Andy Roddick was the last American to win the U.S. Open and Grand Slam singles title in 2003. So you’re predicting the first American winner since Andy Roddick.

A: That is absolutely correct. You heard it clearly right from my mouth (laugh). I’m going with it.

Q: Describe the state of men’s tennis.

A: Alcaraz is the most electrifying player in tennis. He moves the needle as an individual player more so than any other player since Rafa [Rafael Nadal] and Roger [Federer] retired. Sinner’s obviously an unbelievable player, and those two have completely dominated the men’s game for the last call it three years now. I knew Sinner and Alcaraz were going to be great, I didn’t know they were going to be this great this quickly. … I like to see the best players in the biggest tournaments. The reality now after the utter domination from those two for the previous two calendar years where they pretty much won every major and played in almost every major final, there’s only one major this year now where both of them played, and that was the first one of the year, Australian. There’s been a lot of talk this summer about players getting injured and the tours having to do something about the schedule, so that will make that discussion even louder because these are two young players, two extremely fit players, athletic players, and both of them now missing significant time this year due to injury.

Q: A quick scouting report: Alcaraz.

A: Alcaraz is like the ultimate shotmaker. He’s like the combination of the huge Hollywood star, the phenomenal athlete, the Broadway performer, he loves to put on a show. And he’s taken the game stylistically to another level. He’s hitting shots that we didn’t even think were possible, and now he’s kind of doing that with regularity, mostly because of his speed, his athleticism. his shotmaking ability — part of which probably is what’s caused him to have this wrist problem because there’s so much torque he puts on his shots, and he basically can hit a winner from anywhere on the court.

Q: Shelton.

A: Monster serve, big forehand, has improved the return game, which desperately needs to be better to have a chance to win one of these big ones. The other thing he’s got — what I call moxie. He’s got swagger, he loves the big stage, he wants to play against the biggest guys in the biggest moments, so that’s something you can’t teach. He’s got all the intangibles. … If he can improve his tangibles, like the basic stuff, then he can win a major. But right now his intangibles slightly outweigh the tangibles.

Q: Learner Tien.

A: Unbelievable ball striker, incredible tennis IQ. All he’s lacking is a little more physicality, because you got to be a physical specimen now to compete with these top guys in tennis. I was a really good tennis player, right? But I wasn’t a great athlete. Nowadays you need the whole package to get to the very top of the game. Tien needs to get just a little bit stronger, get a little more pop on his shots and in his serve. I think he’s got the kind of game that can win on any surface.

Q: Taylor Fritz.

A: I call him one of the great overachievers in tennis. He’s meticulous when it comes to preparation, hard work. Everything he does, he’s pushing the envelope. I’m very impressed with what he’s gotten out of his body and his game. He’s a gritty tennis player, and he’s just like a decent athlete playing in a sport where it’s pretty damn tough to be just a decent athlete and win one of these big ones. But if anybody can do it, it’s him. He’s got technically one of the purest serves in tennis, and just very pure off the ground, off the forehand and the backhand.

Q: Who is a sleeper pick to make a lot of noise?

A: For people that are going to be reading your piece and don’t really know tennis, I’m going to say it’s [Rafael] Jodar. I love his game, he’s got an all-court game, he’s Spanish, but he doesn’t play really a traditional Spanish game, he’s got an unreal two-handed backhand, really good serve, lanky. He can kind of beat you from any part of the court. The other guy is [Joao] Fonseca, the Brazilian who’s been on the scene a little longer. Fonseca’s a guy who’s got massive firepower, but he just hasn’t quite got control of the game yet.

Q: Zverev.

A: Monster serve, huge second serve, big guy, moves extremely well for his size. He can match those two guys with his ground game. Monster off both wings. And he’s added the ability to go forward more. He had a tendency in big moments to just kind of stay back and be more of a counterpuncher. So now that he’s willing to take the initiative in certain moments, that kind of helped him get over that hump. I think that win in Paris has given him a little more confidence.

Q: Describe the state of women’s tennis.

A: Women’s tennis is more wide open than men’s tennis. I think you’ve seen [Aryna] Sabalenka, [Elena] Rybakina kind of distance themselves a little bit, [Iga] Swiatek’s starting to play well again this summer, having won the Open before and multiple majors on clay. Coco Gauff’s won two majors despite the fact that her serve and forehand can break down at times under pressure. Sabalenka’s No. 1 in the world, and clearly the best hardcourt player and two-time defending champ of the Open, but she hasn’t won a major this year. The pressure’s on her to try and do that again. But you can make a case of [Mirra] Andreeva, the young Russian who won the French. She can be the next great player. Marta Kostyuk — I could probably give you double-digit number of women that could win the tournament.

Q: A quick scouting report: Sabalenka.

A: Massive firepower, one of the biggest hitters that we’ve seen in women’s tennis. She’s added variety to her game, but she can still implode. She can still beat herself at times.

Q: Jessica Pegula.

A: I think she would be a sympathetic pick for a lot of people just based on the fact she’s understated, she just does her thing. Pegula’s a damn good competitor and she’s a great ball striker. A lot of people think like she’s due to finally win one. That would be a moment that a lot of insider tennis people would love to see because she’s very well-liked and respected.

Q: Swiatek.

A: She looks like she’s starting to play much smarter tennis. She was the kind of player that would just try to be aggressive, aggressive, and if that didn’t work, she could hit her way into trouble. She hired one of Nadal’s old coaches — Francisco Roig, who I know pretty well, who’s smart as can be. I’m picking her to win the tournament.

Q: Gauff.

A: Incredible athlete, no-holds-barred competitor. But the serve is still an issue. She competes like no one and she’s got incredible speed, but the X factor is that serve. She’s got the most technical issues of any of these players that we’ve just talked about.

Q: Rybakina.

A: She’s a big power hitter, biggest server in women’s tennis. She’s never really played well in New York, her personality is very quiet, very withdrawn. But her skills are off the charts, she hits the ball cleaner, bigger, maybe even bigger than Sabalenka off the ground and definitely has a bigger serve. You got to use the New York crowd, you got to get the crowd behind you, you got to get the crowd into it, they’re starving for that in New York, and someone like that kind of turns them off a little bit because she doesn’t give much to the crowd.

Q: Sleeper pick?

A: Iva Jovic, who’s a young American from southern California. She hits the ball actually similarly to Pegula, like pretty flat. She’s young, so she hits the ball I’d say a little bit bigger. She’s not that tall so she doesn’t have a big serve, but man, she’s feisty. She’s a great ball striker. I’m not sure she can win yet because I’m not sure she has enough just pure firepower, but I think that she’s going to win some majors. And I think she’s someone that is going to be really energized by the New York crowd, she’s got a lot of spunk to her game. The other American woman to watch for is [Amanda] Anisimova. She’s been a little up and down this year because she had some injuries, but she’s starting to play well.

Q: What was the most electric U.S. Open crowd?

A: [Pete] Sampras-[Alex] Corretja, the Sampras-[Andre] Agassi matchups were incredible. Federer beating Agassi in the final. Serena [Williams] had her moments, both and good and bad, right? Over the years, certainly some of the most memorable moments. Serena-[Jennifer] Capriati when those terrible calls went against Serena’s way. That was like the onset of why we got electronic line calling. [Novak] Djokovic has had his moments where he was going for the Grand Slam and lost in straight sets to [Danill] Medvedev in 2022. That was the biggest ovation he’s ever gotten — losing — in the U.S. Open Final.

Q: What was the 2007 Davis Cup like, beating the Russians in Portland when you were captain?

A: My brother [John] did it for a year and hated it because that wasn’t his thing, he wanted to be playing. For me it was sort of a dream of mine to be the captain, so when I got the job at the end of 2000, to me it was like this is a job I want to keep as long as I can which I ended up doing for 10 years. … I focused my energy on the younger guys and building a team. To me, 2007 was like the culmination of five or six years. I relished that whole journey.

Q: Winning the doubles at the 1989 French Open?

A: I graduated from Stanford in ’88, and I wasn’t really sure, first of all, if I should try to play pro tennis. I was a good college player, but not a great player. My brother was No. 1 and so I had to deal with that, and my mom was like, “Oh, you sure you want to play tennis? You’re not going to be as good as your brother.” And I’m like, “Mom, he’s No. 1 in the world, no one’s as good as him.” Anyway, doubles was my way into the tour initially. I was basically a doubles specialist. But I realized midway through ’90 that I wanted to attempt to become a legitimate singles player.

Q: Your 1995 U. S. Open quarterfinals match against Boris Becker.

A: I had a new coach that I’d hired earlier that year, and his whole premise to me was, “We got to try and get you believing that you can beat these top players.” So one of the things he actually did was he had me start practicing with all, like, top-10 players. I was playing about as well as I could play. And I looked up at the scoreboard, and I was down two sets to love. … So I’m sitting there in the changeover, this is my dream, to play in the quarterfinals of the Open, all my friends are there, my family’s there, I’d been hoping to have this moment for myself for years. And I looked up and I said, “You know what, F–k it, I’m just going to go for it.” So I just started playing kind of the way I’d been practicing, and I won the third set. That was the most electric match I ever played. I do admit that I have the one regret which is, “What if I started the match that way?”

Q: You were up two sets on Jimmy Connors in the first round at the ’91 Open.

A: I was up two sets and he was serving at … love-40, but who remembers the details, right?

Q: How disappointing was that for you?

A: It was brutal, absolutely brutal. I think it took me about six months to recover. I remember thinking to myself, “I got Connors beat.” He just got the crowd going. You talk about electrifying the crowd, what he did at that tournament was up there with one of the all-time runs in the U. S. Open history. That’s about as loud as I’ve ever heard it there.

Q: Losing in a ’91 Final to your brother in Chicago.

A: It was actually the only time where I legitimately had a chance to beat him, because he was kind of at the end of his career, and I was like in the prime of my career. … I didn’t have that thing that I really wanted to beat my brother. I looked up to my brother, he’s seven years older than me. The last thing he wanted to do was lose to his brother, like he would never have been able to deal with it. He ended up beating me 6-4 in the third set. That actually ended up being the last tournament he ever won in singles.

Q: How would you compare him as a doubles partner and broadcast partner?

A: A lot of people assume just because of his personality that he was like a rough doubles partner to have. He’s one of the best doubles partner that I ever had. He was nothing but supportive to me. Our dad wanted us to play together, and we should have been a great team, and we kind of felt like a weird pressure.

Q: You guys won the Paris Masters in ’92.

A: We were out partying that night, and John said, “That’s it, we’re not playing together again, we’re going out on top.” And in the broadcast booth, John’s been able to be the star in all of those situations but still be a team player. One of my dreams was to work with my brother. I feel like we play off each other really well, and I think over the years, his respect level for my work ethic and for what I’ve done has gone up and up and up so that we have an unbelievable working relationship on TV.

Q: Your singles championship in Sydney in 1995.

A: I tell that story to people at our Tennis Academy here in New York City, the parents, I said, “I was a pretty good pro player [ranked 28th], I had a pretty good career, and I got to the semis of the Australian, went to quarters of the Open.” I said, “Only one time in my career did I walk away from the tournament not having lost.” I never won another title. But at least I got one.”

Q: You’ve been with ESPN since 1995. When did you know you wanted to go into broadcasting?

A: I was pretty shy as a kid to be honest, and then because of being John’s brother and John bursting onto the scene as a teenager — about 10, 11 years old — I’m going around playing junior tournaments and everybody wants to interview me because I’m John’s brother. So I sort of like developed a comfort level with talking to reporters, being on TV, and then when the opportunity came when I had shoulder injury after I had my best year in ’95, ESPN was looking for somebody new to join Fred Stolle and Cliff Drysdale, Mary Carillo had been part of that team as well. And right away I just loved it.

Q: You can build the perfect tennis player, and take one trait from: Bjorn Borg.

A: Speed.

Q: Nadal.

A: Intensity.

Q: Federer.

A: Forehand.

Q: Connors.

A: Backhand.

Q: Sampras.

A: Serve.

Q: Djokovic.

A: Intangibles.

Q: Agassi.

A: Power.

Q: John McEnroe.

A: Touch.

Q: Patrick McEnroe.

A: Nothing (laugh).

Q: Serena.

A: Serve.

Q: Martina Navratilova.

A: Volleys.

Q: Chris Evert.

A: Unflappable.

Q: Steffi Graf.

A: Forehand.

Q: Maria Sharapova.

A: Competitiveness.

Q: Martina Hingis.

A: Zeal.

Q: Monica Seles.

A: Ball striking. On both wings.

Q: You’ve been president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame more than three years now.

A: I’m a sucker for history and for stories, and the Hall of Fame encompasses all that in addition to celebrating the champions … the impact of players like Althea Gibson, Billie Jean King, Arthur Ashe had not only on tennis, but on society. This is all leading to our induction this coming week, where Mary Carillo and that other guy named Roger will go into the Hall of Fame.

Q: You were general manager of USTA player development.

A: I was working basically 24/7 doing that job to try to rebuild our pipeline in American tennis, which I believe actually we did a pretty damn good job. That was a very political job, it was a job where you’re in the line of fire, every year at the Open, the Americans don’t do well — “Patrick, what’d you get wrong this time? What’d you F-up this time?” That was something that was very stressful, but it was also something that I put a lot of passion into, and I had a great team of people that I’ve put in place around me to really try to make a difference. And I think we did.

Q: Douglaston, Queens.

A: My junior high school basketball coach said to me — I went to Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn [L.I.] — he said, “There’s something about the water there,” because we were around the water there. And Mary Carillo and her family were from there, the McEnroes were from there, and we just kind of fell into getting in tennis at the local club, the Douglaston Club.

Q: Describe your brother Mark.

A: I call him “Man in the Middle.” … I started beating Mark when I was like 8 or 9. He’s like, “Screw this.” He became a lawyer, like my dad. He’s taken over a lot of the stuff that my dad used to do for me and John career-wise. When John and I butted heads at different times, he’s always right in the middle, that’s why I call him the Man in the Middle, he mediates for us.

Q: What did you and John butt heads about?

A: We used to butt heads back in the day because he used to say to me: “You never take my advice,” like when I was coming out of college. My mom, as I said to you earlier, was like, “Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe you should go to law school, like your dad and your brother Mark.” And John was like, “Mom, stay out of it. Patrick’s good enough, he can make it. Let him do it.” And then over the years he would give me advice about something and he always thought, which wasn’t entirely true, “You always do the opposite of what I tell you to do.” And there was a competitiveness too, he’d get super pissed when I beat him in doubles. I learned from him also like a different level of intensity when I played doubles with him … like, “Let’s destroy these guys, let’s kill these guys.” I didn’t quite have that killer instinct in the way that he did. He just had that little something extra that he brought to the table, and I think he’s brought that to his career in broadcasting in the same way, he just has like that edge to him that keeps people sort of on their toes around him and keeps him super sharp.

Q: What was it like for you watching John’s on-court outbursts as a player?

A: I remember we’d have like family dinners when we’d come back. My dad was a pretty intense — so was my mom, my mom was sort of the hardass of the family. My dad would be like, “John, why do you do this? You don’t need to do this.” And he’d be like, “Dad, I don’t really ***** want ***** to do it.” And inevitably my dad would start yelling. And John was like: “Well, maybe this is why!”

Q: Your “Mac Daddy Show” — which will drop new episodes on YouTube on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays — debuts Wednesday.

A: I’m a little more, I would say, of a seasoned broadcaster at this point than “Big Daddy” [Rich Salgado] is, but that makes it a little bit different. I can sort of take the lead on most of the interviews, and when it comes to guys like [Michael] Strahan and Mike Eruzione and Bernard Hopkins, Big Daddy has a relationship that goes back years and years, so I think that brings a comfort level that we seem to be getting from the guests that you normally don’t get. I’ve always wanted to do a show like this.

Q: Strahan is your debut guest.

A: We went to his man cave in Jersey where he’s got all his cars and his unbelievable setup to watch football with his buddies and a big bar and a pool table and all that stuff. It was super fun.

Q: Three dinner guests?

A: [Nelson] Mandela, George Washington, Margaret Thatcher. … I’m still bummed that we haven’t had a female president.

Q: Favorite movies?

A: “Shawshank Redemption,” “Caddyshack,” “The Sting.”

Q: Favorite actor?

A: Matt Damon.

Q: Favorite actress?

A: Meryl Streep.

Q: Favorite entertainer?

A: My wife [Melissa Errico].

Q: Favorite meal?

A: Tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto start, and then I’d go like an unbelievable rigatoni light vodka sauce with parmesan cheese.

Q: What do you hope your tennis legacy will be?

A: I love people and I love being around tennis, so I hope people will just say, “Patrick loves tennis and spread the gospel and was someone that was great to work with or work for.” I try to surround myself with people that either like to work with me or I like to work for them. Hopefully will just say lived a great life and gave back to the sport, which gave me pretty much my entire career.

Q: What is unique about the New York tennis crowd?

A: It’s interesting because it’s changed a bit over the years as the tournament has grown in stature, and it’s become like the who’s-who thing with the corporate crowd, the celebrity crowd, and now I guess it’s all about the influencer crowd, whatever that is. But here’s the thing: There’s still the ultra-savvy New Yorker crowd that knows tennis … that loves tennis. So they get it.

But as the tournament has grown sort of in stature, it’s also kind of taken on this entertainment aspect of it, right? To me it’s like an amazing combination, because there’s still those diehard fans — there’s not as many of ’em maybe that can afford to pay … who can afford to go to a Knick game now? But you still have those blue seats fans. It’s almost more like Ranger fans that sit in the blue seats over the years. Like no matter what, they’re like hardcore hockey fans. And tennis has that, and New York has that. But now it’s got more of this, hey, look who’s on the big screen, and hey, let’s play the music. So it’s like a scene as well. … But it’s got this very unique mix of sort of celebrity, money, and then a hardcore tennis fan, like, “I just want to go to the Open, I’m going on Day 2, and I’m going to every freaking court because I want to see that kid from Uzbekistan play the kid from Croatia.”