McEnroe outplayed by a computer

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 44

McEnroe outplayed by a computer

The computer has spoken. John McEnroe might be the man of the moment after his victories at Wimbledon, but he is ranked only number two in the world. When the Association of Tennis Professionals (A.T.P.) issued its latest computerised rankings yesterday, the bounding Czech, Ivan Lendl — beaten in the Wimbledon semi-finals — was in the plum position. The extraordinary result was reached through a complicated formula judging players’ performances in the last 52 weeks. Lendl finished six-hundreths of a point ahead of McEnroe. Under law changes made six months ago, a tourna-

ment winner’s share of points was cut more severely than those awarded to losing semi-finalists. This factor and others reducing the points awarded for reaching a certain round and rewarding players who enter more tournaments contributed to McEnroe being nosed out of number one in the rankings. “All these things were voted in by the players, even though this seems preposterous; that McEnroe can win Wimbledon and drop to number two,” said the A.T.P. computer co-ordi-nator, R. V. Baugus, in Dallas, according to a NZPA-Reuter report.

“McEnroe is now on the board of directors, so I

imagine he will have something to say about the rule changes and perhaps instigate further alterations.”

McEnroe’s father, a lawyer who handles his son’s tennis and business affairs, was astonished at what the computer had spat out.

“I don’t think there is anyone in the world who thinks John is anything but the number one player,” he said. McEnroe senior admitted that the ranking system was extremely difficult to figure out.

“It would be better if the computer matched the discernment of tennis fans everywhere.”