McEnroe and Temper Get the Best of Lendl

After losing at Wimbledon, John McEnroe is returning to the form that is associated with the No. 1 player in the world.

McEnroe beat Czechoslovakia’s Ivan Lendl for the second straight week Sunday, taking the $375,000 men’s Canadian Open tennis tournament and its $51,000 top prize with a 7-5, 6-3 victory. Last week, McEnroe defeated Lendl, the No. 2 player in the world, in a Grand Prix tournament at Stratton, Vt.

The match at Montreal featured arguments with umpires and a fine. But, surprisingly, it was Lendl who was issued a warning.

Lendl, serving at 5-6 in the 12th game of the first set, seemed to lose his concentration when umpire Jeremy Shales called out a forehand that appeared to have hit the line.

When Lendl questioned the call, Shales gave him a warning for a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct that cost a $500 fine. Lendl then double-faulted to lose the game and the set.

“I definitely got very upset in the 12th game of the first set,” Lendl said. “This guy (Shales) is so bad it’s embarrassing.”

Lendl argued with Shales about another call in the third game of the second set. He was at double-break point when he felt a serve by McEnroe had gone wide and he demanded a let be played.

After a heated discussion, Lendl asked Shales to summon the tournament supervisor, and sat down and dried himself off with a towel, while McEnroe waited for play to resume.

When the tournament supervisor and referee appeared, Lendl asked them to remove Shales, which they refused to do. The point was then replayed and McEnroe won.

For McEnroe it was his eighth victory on the 1985 Grand Prix tour. And it was his second straight Canadian Open championship.

In the second set, McEnroe broke Lendl in a hard-fought eighth game after four break points. He finished with a flourish, winning the ninth game at love.

“Both times that I broke him, it came down to a couple of mistakes--him double-faulting,” McEnroe said. “You can’t afford to give away those points in a match like that.”

McEnroe also said Lendl overreacted to the umpire’s call in the first set.

“He was really upset. He looked like he was on the verge of losing it completely, but he hung in there. But he was barely there the rest of the time. He was just fighting to keep it together mentally.”

McEnroe has won 14 of 25 matches against Lendl dating back five years.

Kathy Rinaldi won her first-ever American title, beating Steffi Graf in a $150,000 women’s tournament at Mahwah, N.J.

Rinaldi, 18, whose only other pro victory came in 1981 at the age of 14 in Kyoto, Japan, won the 2-hour, 9-minute match against the 16-year-old Graf, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

“It was a very tough match,” said Rinaldi, who engaged in 40- and 50-stroke rallies with Graf in the final set. “In the end, it was just a matter of who hung in for the final point.”