Jokester John McEnroe fitting in well as Team Raonic gears up for Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON – John McEnroe, jokester?

You cannot be serious!

You'd think the former Wimbledon champion, as fidgety as he is, as introverted as he has always been, wouldn't feel at home on a practice court watching someone else play.

But on Friday at Wimbledon, as his charge Milos Raonic practiced with 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic (and Cilic's "super-coach". Goran Ivanisevic), this was a new man.

He didn't look bored in the least. He was constantly talking tennis, as Raonic's other former No. 1 consultant Carlos Moyá mostly listened. He kept cracking everyone up - Raonic, Moyá, Cilic, Ivanisevic. And he looked engaged. Committed. He looked right at home with the "boys", and as if he were enjoying himself immensely.

Here's what it looked like.

There was a whole lot of Grand Slam power in the neighbourhood on this day, something you hope can soak into Raonic's bones by osmosis. There was his practice partner Cilic, who won the US Open in 2014 – if Cilic can win a Slam, you can bet the farm Raonic also thinks he can win one. There was Cilic's coach Ivanisevic, who won Wimbledon in 2001 as a wild card. There was Moyá, who won the French Open in 1998 and got to No. 1. And there was Lleyton Hewitt, who chimed in with a few comments of his own from the peanut gallery (the next court over).

Just on the other side of the fence were Novak Djokovic (and Boris Becker), and two-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka, practicing together.

If any of this could sink in by osmosis, everyone in the immediate area would be championship calibre.

Given all the positive vibes, it's hard to fathom why McEnroe hasn't been in this position before. Even Jimmy Connors got several opportunities (with Andy Roddick and, for a week, with Maria Sharapova) while McEnroe waited for someone to show interest.

He dabbled before; there was a brief effort with Becker that McEnroe said was a disaster in large part because both of them were going through things in their personal lives, and Becker didn't listen to a word he said. He worked with former French Open champ Sergi Bruguera (now a consultant to Richard Gasquet), briefly. He worked with Aussie Mark Philipoussis – again, briefly. His take back then? They didn't listen to a word he said.

He basically offered his services, unsolicited, as the new coach of Andy Murray after Ivan Lendl first left two years ago. Even Murray's mother Judy was in favour. But that never came close to happening.

And after lobbying hard for the Davis Cup captain's job in the U.S. – and finally getting it – he lasted a year. And Davis Cup captains typically stay in their jobs a long, long time.

All of that, granted, was a long time ago. So why, in the early days of this association, does it seem that McEnroe is right at home?

Perhaps, at 57, having raised or help to raise six kids, now long removed from his playing career even if he's still going great guns on the seniors circuit, it's the right time. It was 40 years ago that a 17-year-old McEnroe, an amateur, came through the qualifying here and reached the semi-finals. Hard to believe.

Maybe the introvert has come out of his shell enough that now that he's not trying so hard to make himself heard, he's being listened to. Maybe his charge isn't too much like himself, the way Becker and Philippoussis were; Raonic is the anti-Mac: not nearly as much natural talent, obviously, but all the ambition and drive and work ethic to compensate for that.

Maybe he's ready – and maybe tennis is ready for him, as a coach, in a way it wasn't before.

Maybe 10 weeks or less of McEnroe is just the right amount for both parties.

Who knows what the future holds. But for the moment, having McEnroe around as he tries to make a run at Wimbledon is a great add for the Canadian.