McEnroe fined

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 56

McEnroe fined

NZPA-AP Stockholm The top seed, John McEnroe, faces at least a 21-day suspension after being fined' $2lOO on three counts of misbehaviour on Sunday in a stormy 1-6, .7-6, 6-2 semifinal win over Anders Jarryd (Sweden), in the Stockholm open-Scandinavian tennis championships. McEnroe’s outbursts in the second set — slamming a ball into the stands, calling the Swedish umpire a “jerk” and hitting a soft drink can with his racket during a change-over — pushed his fines this year well past the $7500 limit. Mr Ken Farrar, the grand prix chief of supervisors, said McEnroe’s fines totalled $6400 going into the tournament. McEnroe now has two options, to play no tennis at all for 21 days or no grand prix tennis for 42 days, which will allow him to play exhibitions and the Davis Cup. Mr Farrar said McEnroe would be fined $350 for ball abuse, $750 for abuse of an

official and $lOOO for “unsportsmanlike conduct.” “But he has a 10-day appeal so he will be able to play in London next week,” Mr Farrar said.

McEnroe will play Mats Wilander, of Sweden, in the final of the $3’15,000 event. Wilander, the third seed, earlier defeated the second seed, Jimmy Connors, 6-7, 6-3,6-3 in the other semi-final.

McEnroe was ahead, 4-2, in the second set and well back in the match when he hit a first serve that was called out. He received a warning by the umpire for hitting the ball into the stands. Then, after shouting to the umpire, McEnroe was penalised one point, making the score 15-30, for verbal abuse. McEnroe doublefaulted to 15-40 and eventually dropped his serve to trail, 3-4. Moments later, McEnroe was penalised one game, making the score 4-4, for equipment abuse. McEnroe went up to Mr Farrar, seated near the umpire’s chair, to complain about the officiating. “He requested a change of umpire, but I denied that because I thought the umpire did a good job,” said Mr Farrar.

McEnroe, who complained he did not concentrate well in the earlier matches this week, said he was “tired right now, and that’s when I get into these situations. When I’m fresh I’m a lot more in control.”