The retired tennis pro acquired “Helter Skelter I” in 2007. It’s the creation of Mark Bradford, a sought-after black artist from Los Angeles who represented the U.S. last year at the Venice Biennial, one of the most prestigious international art exhibitions.

McEnroe, 59, whose Hall-of-Fame career included seven Grand Slam singles titles and epic on-court tirades, is currently a tennis analyst for ESPN. He’s also a frequent presence on the art circuit, appearing at fairs, auctions and openings.

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Bradford, born in 1961, is the recipient of numerous awards, including the MacArthur Genius Grant in 2009. His annual sales at auction peaked at $17.4 million in 2015, and dropped to $6.9 million last year, according to Artprice.com. The final price for the work sold Thursday was 8.7 million pounds, which includes commission, surpassing the high estimate of 6 million pounds.

The painting helped give Phillips, a smaller rival of Sotheby’s and Christie’s, its biggest single-auction total in the firm’s history. The 97.8 million pounds it brought in put Phillips close to the 109.3 million pounds that Sotheby’s rang up during a similar auction on Wednesday. The sale of Picasso’s 1932 “La Dormeuse” for 41.9 million pounds, more than twice the high-end estimate, was Phillips’s biggest triumph.

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