McEnroe Comes Up Short in His Comeback Against Lendl--but Not by Much

If this was just an exhibition, certainly no one was inclined to keep it that way, including the biggest exhibitionist of them all, John McEnroe.

Sometimes brilliant, sometimes sluggish, constantly animating, McEnroe lost to Ivan Lendl, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, Thursday night at the Forum. It was his first match against a top-level opponent since January. And, although it did not count on the rankings computer, nobody cared to blow this thing off.

Not the 13,856 spectators, many of whom had a comment from the gallery.

Not the press; represented were five papers from London, two from New York, one from Melbourne, Australia, and, of course, a tabloid called The Star, chronicler of McEnroe’s social misgivings.

Not Lendl. He takes everything seriously.

And most significantly, not McEnroe. Since he left tennis in January, he has slipped to No. 7 in the rankings.

He lost the world’s No. 1 player after leading 4-1 in the third set. After Lendl fought back to take a 6-5 lead, McEnroe held serve in the next game, forcing the tiebreaker. He then went up 4-2, but lost five straight points and the match.

“I’ve got a ways to go,” said McEnroe, who has a 14-12 career record against Lendl, excluding exhibitions. “The hands (reflexes) will come back, I’m not worried about that.’

The antics are back, for sure. He argued about calls, pouted on others, and faked like he was hitting a ball at one linesman when he didn’t like the call.

When the linesman walked off the court, McEnroe hit a ball hard towards the tunnel that the linesman was leaving in.

With the victory, Lendl earned $100,000, pushing him over the $9-million career mark. McEnroe won $40,000.

McEnroe started slow, losing his serve in the first game of the match on a double-fault, two Lendl winners, and a sloppy backhand. His timing was apparently lacking, as he often had difficulty handling Lendl’s hard, crisp strokes.

“At the start I felt really tight and nervous, and I had no rhythm,” McEnroe said. “Once I got into it, I played pretty good for a while. I got a little tired . . . and didn’t dig quite deep enough at the end.”

Nevertheless, he stayed close to Lendl, who has won 100 of 106 matches since the 1985 French Open. McEnroe’s once-impeccable net game was still intact and, down 3-1 in the first set, he successfully placed one of those soft, untouchable volleys.

Down 4-3, McEnroe lost the next game on four straight unforced errors and was visibly upset with his play after each one. He held serve to close to 5-4, but Lendl then ended the set, winning on a long rally from the baseline.

In the second set, McEnroe adjusted better to Lendl’s pace. He broke Lendl in the second game and went up 4-1. His game beginning to flow, McEnroe was never dominating but kept Lendl running and off-balance enough to win the set.

In an earlier match, Johan Kriek defeated Jimmy Connors, 6-4, 6-4.

Kriek, who reached the semifinals of the French Open this year, fell behind 3-0 in the first set, both his serve and ground strokes as erratic as his 10-year career has been. Once that powerful serve and forehand got going, he had Connors on the defensive, breaking him once and tying the score at 3-3.

Kriek took the lead at 5-4, breaking Connors on a lob that kissed the corner of the court, then easily held serve in the next game.

Connors fell behind 3-1 in the second set, then the two traded serves as Kriek closed out the match.