McEnroe’s racquet flies in torrid encounter

Press, 9 October 1987, Page 48

McEnroe’s racquet flies in torrid encounter

NZPA-AP Atlanta John McEnroe, under suspension from official tournaments, angrily bounced his raquet into the stands during his loss to the world No. 1, Ivan Lendl, at the SUSS«MW (SNZ76S,*H) A.T. and T. Challenge at Atlanta yesterday. Lendl defeated McEnroe, S-7, H 74, In a torrid encounter between two old rivals. After splitting the first two sets, McEnroe and Lendl battled evenly through the final set until Lendl dominated the tie-breaker to win the

two hour 45 minute match. At one point in the third set, McEnroe, upset at a line call, threw down his racquet so hard it bounced into the stands. A spectator threw it back. At his post-match press conference, McEnroe reiterated his long held anguish at tennis officialdom. “I thought I played well, but words can’t express the way 1 feel about the officiating,” he said. “The words I would say couldn’t be used on TV.”

McEnroe is serving a two-month suspension from official tournaments,, but is allowed to participate in exhibitions such as the A.T. and T. In earlier matches at the round-robin tournament, Sweden’s Stefan Edberg defeated his countryman Ulf . Stenlund, 4-4, 7-5, 1-1, and Mlloslav Mecir, of Czechoslovakia, beat Mikael Pernfors, of Sweden, 7-4 4-4. Stenlund won the last two games to take the first set against Edberg, who returned the favour by taking the last two games in the second set

“Over-all, I’ve had a good year to move up to No. 2,” Edberg said. “I’ve won five tournaments but I still feel I can improve.” Mecir said he had some trouble getting his game untracked. “I had problems with control in the first seL In the second set I played a little better,” he said. “I began hitting more shots than I’m supposed to hit Pernfors runs quite well and has control of the balL When you hit a lot of top-spin balls you don’t have to hit it deep.”