It's never a surprise to learn that John McEnroe is not happy.
The American former tour player and current broadcaster is infamous for being displeased with a myriad of matters both on and off the tennis court.
These days he's not eager to have his record for career doubles tournaments won broken by Australians Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde.
The Woodies are tied with McEnroe and Peter Fleming and South Africans Bob Hewitt and Frew McMillian at 57 titles.
Tomorrow they will play in the final of the French Open against Dutchman Paul Haarhuis and Australian Sandon Stolle and not only would success give them a record 58th win but it would also complete their quartet of Grand Slam conquests.
The team of the past decade, and maybe the best ever, the Woodies have won five Wimbledons, two Australian Opens and two U.S. Opens, but their best result in Paris has been reaching the final in 1997.
The stakes of tomorrow's final are heightened by the fact Woodforde, 34, is retiring at the end of the year, soon after he and Woodbridge play in the Olympics at home in September.
Recently, Woodforde, who shared the U.S. Open doubles title with McEnroe in 1989, told his one-time partner, "We need one more [title]and the record's our's, and you're off the book."
McEnroe replied, "Yeah, well I really hope you don't do it here."
He went on to say, "I think I've got the record of 77 tournaments [with different partners]"
Woodforde, who has an overall total of 63 titles, had been one-upped and conceded, "That's too good, I don't think I'll reach that one."
Woodforde, from Adelaide, and Woodbridge, from Sydney, first hooked up in 1990 in New Haven, Conn., mainly because they were compatriots and were looking for partners.
They have always been a treat to watch because neither is overpowering, meaning that they have used finesse rather than brute force to dominate their opponents.
Their partnership has spanned the Davis Cup captaincies of a couple of former Wimbledon champions, Neale Fraser and John Newcombe, who has his former doubles mate Tony Roche as coach.
"We had Neale Fraser, who taught us to play very conservatively -- make the [service]return," said Woodbridge, 29. "No I-formations [when serving] just cross-court and let the net man knock it off if it was a good return.
"Then Newk [Newcombe]and Roche, when discussing how we played with our long-time coach Ray Ruffels, decided we played better by being imaginative.
"They came to us and said 'You guys have got to do more when you're out on the court. When you get too staid, and in the same positions, all the stuff doesn't flow.
"So we've had varying influences. I guess we learned to be solid from Fraser, and from Ruffels, Newcombe and Roche we learned to create."
After being the No. 1 team in the world from 1995 to 1997, the Woodies slipped to third in 1998 and 1999. That made them understandably apprehensive coming into Woodforde's final campaign.
"Perhaps we were unsure about what was going to happen," said Woodbridge. "Towards the end of last year we sat down and made a choice, either we go out and play hard to the end and we play well, or we don't play at all. We weren't playing up to the standard that we liked.
"All of that was on our minds. Once we made that decision, it's been so much easier. It's like we're running to the line and once we're over it then we can just sit back and say what a good job we did together."
They have already won four titles in 2000 -- in Adelaide, Sydney, Miami and Hamburg, Germany. The latter being a confidence booster for Roland Garros because it was an elite Masters Series event and also on red clay.
Three of the Woodies five titles at Wimbledon came against Grant Connell of Vancouver, in 1993 and 1994 when the Vancouverite played with American Patrick Galbraith and then in 1996 when he teamed with Byron Black of Zimbabwe.
"My running joke with Grant," Woodbridge said, "is that he put an extra bedroom or two on my home."