Appeal by McEnroe Turned Down

John McEnroe’s appeal of a two-month suspension has been denied, and his latest tennis tantrums will cost him an automatic $10,000 fine, as well.

Marshall Happer, administrator of the Men’s International Professional Tennis Council, said Friday that the appeal filed by McEnroe had been rejected and that the suspension will begin Monday and end Nov. 27. It will apply to all Nabisco Grand Prix tournaments and others events sanctioned by the MIPTC.

The only tournament of note during McEnroe’s suspension period, however, is in Brazil the last week of November, but the 28-year-old resident of Glen Cove, N.Y., more than likely will also miss the Masters in New York, which he said recently was one of his favorite tournaments.

The Masters will be played the week of Nov. 30, after his suspension ends, but McEnroe currently is in 10th place in the Nabisco point race and only the top eight players will compete in the season-ending tournament.

McEnroe was in seclusion with his wife, Tatum O’Neal, after the birth of their second son and could not be reached for comment.

He had said earlier, however: “I was brought up in New York, and not to get the opportunity to play at Madison Square Garden, where I went quite often as a child, is disappointing.”

Players are subject to the $10,000 fine when they accumulate fines of $7,500 in a 12-month period. If they are fined another $7,500 in the period, they are subject to an additional $10,000 fine and a two-month suspension.

The three-time Wimbledon and four-time U.S. Open champion was fined $350 after a first-round match with Matt Anger in the U.S. Open. The balance stemmed from his third-round match against Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Zivojinovic, during which McEnroe verbally abused an umpire and a CBS sound man.