Tennis Roundup : Mayotte Wins as Injury Forces Connors to Quit

For Tim Mayotte, it was a long wait. But it wasn’t a satisfying victory.

And it may have cost Jimmy Connors a chance at Wimbledon.

Mayotte registered his third upset in three days Sunday at the Queen’s Club in London, defeating Jimmy Connors for only the second tournament victory of his career. But the match ended with Connors sitting in agony on the sidelines with a pulled groin muscle.

Mayotte had taken the first set, 6-4, and was up a service break and leading in the second, 2-1, when Connors was forced to quit.

“It isn’t the best way (to win),” said Mayotte, whose only previous victory came in the 1985 Lipton tournament. “You don’t feel as happy as if you had to work till the last point.”

Nevertheless, he called this “one of the best weeks of my life.”

On consecutive days, the eighth-seeded Mayotte knocked off the tournament’s top three seeded players--Connors, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg.

Connors said he suffered the injury Saturday in his semifinal victory over Robert Seguso when he slipped on the grass and almost did a split.

Sunday, he first showed signs of the injury in the third game, when he lost his service for the first time.

On the changeover following the fifth game, Todd Snyder, the Association of Tennis Professionals trainer, attended to Connors’ right thigh.

Connors showed no signs of limping, as he won a point, but limped noticeably whenever he lost a point and after he served.

Mayotte held his service the rest of the way to close out the first set.

Mayotte then broke Connors to begin the second set. And when he ran off to a 40-0 lead in the second game, he had won 11 straight points.

He closed out the second game when Connors hit a backhand service return into the net. Connors slipped on the point and again grabbed his right thigh.

Connors held serve at 30, the final point bringing an appreciative roar from the capacity crowd.

Mayotte chipped a touch-drop shot just over the net. But Connors, running at full speed, just reached the ball and whipped a cross-court forehand passing shot.

It was the last ball he would hit.

During the changeover, Snyder made another trip to the court, talking with Connors, who sat with his head buried in his hands. He was later joined by Pro Council supervisor Bill Gilmour, who informed umpire Dick Kaufman that Connors was unable to continue.

Connors said he will see a doctor in London on Tuesday, at which time he hopes he will learn the extent of the injury. Wimbledon begins next Monday.

Pam Shriver defeated Bulgaria’s Manuela Maleeva, 6-2, 7-6, Sunday to win a $125,000 women’s tournament at Edgbaston, England, for the third consecutive year.

Shriver, who has beaten Maleeva in all three of their meetings, took just 62 minutes to win the title.

Top-seeded Martin Jaite of Argentina held off Paolo Cane of Italy, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, to win a $85,000 Grand Prix tournament at Bologna, Italy.