McEnroe Is Suspended for Outburst

John McEnroe was fined and given an automatic 42-day suspension Friday for raging at officials following his 6-3, 7-6 loss to Spain’s Sergio Casal in the quarterfinals of the $625,000 Paris Open tennis tournament.

“You are the worst umpire I’ve seen in my life!” McEnroe yelled at chair umpire Jeremy Shales of Britain as he stormed off the court. “You’ll never work another one of my matches again!”

McEnroe was fined $3,000 for verbal abuse by the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council. The fine took him over the $7,500 limit for the past 12 months and caused the automatic suspension.

Because McEnroe has 10 days in which to appeal, there is the possibility that the suspension would not start until Nov. 10.

If he does not play in any special events during the suspension, the penalty would automatically be halved to 21 days.

“I don’t mind them making bad decisions,” McEnroe said later. “What I do mind is them making bad decisions on match point and set point.”

With the score 40-15 in the 12th game of the first set, Casal served what appeared to be an ace to tie the score, 6-6. Both players thought the ball was good and prepared for the tiebreaker.

But the ball was called out, and Casal had to serve again. This time, McEnroe conceded the point and the game by letting Casal’s second serve go by without making an effort to return it.

“The ball was good. It was a foot inside the line,” McEnroe said.

Then, in the tiebreaker, McEnroe was serving at 8-7 and hit an apparent service winner. Thinking the set was over, McEnroe went to the side and sat down.

But the serve was ruled out.

“There’s no way that ball was out,” McEnroe yelled.

He returned to the court and double-faulted to make the score 8-8, and Casal then won the tiebreaker, 11-9, and the match.