John McEnroe sued by irate spectator

Press, 21 October 1983, Page 38

John McEnroe sued by irate spectator

NZPA Mineola, New York

A high school basketball coach has filed a SUS 6 million (SNZ9 million) lawsuit against John McEnroe, claiming the tennis star cursed at him and threw sawdust in his face at the U.S. Open. The lawsuit, filed in the New York State Supreme Court, claims McEnroe assaulted, humiliated and harassed Chris Schneider, a social studies teacher and basketball coach who had a courtside seat at the U.S. Open in August, said William Sandback, Mr Schneider’s lawyer. “I was cheering and applauding for Trey Waltke, and only at the appropriate times and not when John was serving,” said Mr Schneider yesterday. “He said to me: ‘Are you going to cheer for my opponent all afternoon?’ and I said, ‘l’m working on it’.”

Mr Schneider said McEnroe dismissed him with an epithet during the first round match and “it escalated from there.” McEnroe challenged him to a fight and threw sawdust in his face, Mr Schneider said. John McEnroe, sen., the tennis player’s father and attorney, refused to return telephone calls seeking comment on the incident, according to his secretary.

Mr Schneider said he saw the incident reported on television and the commentator had referred to him as a heckler. He said others were also cheering for Waltke, but he believed he was singled out because his seat was near the baseline.