Tennis Roundup : McEnroe Loses Temper but Wins

Despite an outburst that cost him a one-game penalty, John McEnroe edged fellow American Jimmy Connors, 7-6 (7-2), 7-6 (7-4), Sunday to win the Scottish Grass Court Championship at Edinburgh, Scotland.

Connors was serving with a 30-0 lead at 2-2 in the second set when McEnroe tossed his racket to the ground in frustration. Umpire John Frame warned McEnroe for racket abuse, which led to a foul-mouthed outburst by McEnroe.

The umpire then fined McEnroe a point for an “audible obscenity” and, when the outburst continued, awarded the game to Connors. The next step would have been defaulting McEnroe.

“I think the umpire acted inappropriately (by giving the warning for racket abuse), and I acted inappropriately after that,” McEnroe said.

“But I felt like I was in control except for that 10-second spurt. I didn’t want the story of the match to be that outburst.”

There were no service breaks in the match, McEnroe losing only seven points on his serve in the first set and Connors facing only one break point in the match.

“I played well. I don’t think people realized what good tennis there was out there,” Connors said. “I’m satisfied with my game, and if I can stay like that and keep my wits about me at Wimbledon I will be happy.”

Top-ranked Ivan Lendl gained his first grass-court title as a professional with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Christo van Rensburg of South Africa at the Queen’s Club tournament in London, becoming the first male tennis player to pass $14 million in career winnings.

The title was Lendl’s 79th career championship, second only to Jimmy Connors’ 107 titles, but the first grass-court title for the Czech since he won the Wimbledon junior championship in 1978. The victory was worth $56,000 to Lendl, giving him $14,003,118 in career winnings.

After splitting the first six games in the final set, a double fault by the eighth-seeded van Rensburg allowed Lendl to get a service break and then serve out the match.

“Winning here helps, and I think I have a reasonable chance of winning Wimbledon,” Lendl said. “I have never had more reason to be as confident than this year with my play.”

McEnroe said it was a nice boost to his confidence, but Wimbledon is a different story.

“However, it’s the best I’ve felt with my serving in a long time,” McEnroe said.

Martina Navratilova won 12 consecutive points in the middle of the second set to defeat fellow American Zina Garrison, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3, in the final of a grass-court tournament at Edgbaston, England.

By the end of Navratilova’s decisive run she had a 4-2 lead in the second set. The 86-minute match ended on Garrison’s fourth double fault.

“I was a little tentative and didn’t volley as well as I should have,” said Navratilova, who earned $25,000 for the victory, “but then I didn’t miss many of them either.”

Sixth-seeded Javier Sanchez of Spain needed only 55 minutes to defeat Franco Davin of Argentina, 6-1, 6-0, in the final of the clay-court tournament at Bologna, Italy.

Sanchez, the brother of tennis players Emilio and Arantxa, earned $18,680 for the win.