Connors’ Game, Mouth Are in Top Form

Jimmy Connors, as feisty as ever, ended his 10-week suspension Tuesday with a thrashing of his first-round opponent and a lashing of the tennis Establishment.

“I missed playing the tennis and missed seeing people filling the stands,” the 33-year-old left-hander said after he easily defeated Michiel Schapers of the Netherlands, 6-1, 6-2. “But I enjoyed being away from all the garbage that goes on in tennis and all the people trying to making it a non-democracy-style event.”

Connors was fined $25,000 and given a 10-week suspension by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC) because he walked off the court after an argument with officials during his semifinal match against Ivan Lendl in the Lipton International Players Championships at Boca Raton, Fla., in February. The fine was the largest assessed against a player.

“I bet you waited 10 weeks for this,” Connors joked when he began his postmatch news conference after his first-round match in the $237,400 Stella Artois Grass Courts Championships at Queens Club in London.

A five-time U.S. Open champion and twice a winner at Wimbledon, Connors said that because of his age he is slowing down his schedule. But he continued to rail against the tennis establishment.

“There doesn’t seem to be any common sense there, and it’s always the player’s fault,” he said.

“You’re being told when to play, where to play, who to play. The next step is to tell you how to play and whether to win or lose.

“Contrary to a lot of people’s thinking, the people come to see the players.”

Connors was especially critical of British umpire Jeremy Shales, who was in the chair at the Lipton tournament.

“The players are the only ones being punished,” he said. “Two days later, in Palm Springs, he (Shales) was in the chair at my match.

“Maybe next time, if I know what will happen, I wouldn’t go crazy. I’ll pull him out of the chair. That would be my last match, but I’d have a good time doing it.”