McEnroe Loses Early at Wimbledon

John McEnroe was blown out of Wimbledon today, his earliest exit in 12 years from the tournament he has won three times.

McEnroe showed some of his old temper but not his old tennis. He argued line calls but hit too few lines, and was dumped in the first round by Derrick Rostagno, a longhaired Californian ranked 129th in the world, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.

A semifinalist here a year ago and seeded fourth this time, McEnroe showed his age. Rostagno won three games in a row to go up 3-1 in the first set and although McEnroe battled back to lead 5-4 with the help of his only break of the match, he never mounted a serious challenge.

A year ago, McEnroe came back from two sets down to beat Darren Cahill in the first round. That was the first time he had done that in his career, but the feat was not to be duplicated this hazy day on Centre Court.

Other seeds lost, too, on Wimbledon’s second day.

Out were sixth-seeded Tim Mayotte and 12th-seeded Pete Sampras of the United States; fifth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, the French Open champion, and 14th-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia.

The battle for supremacy in women’s tennis began as well, with top seeds Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles turning in impressive performances. Fourteen-year-old challenger Jennifer Capriati started, too, and had tough acts to follow.

But the big act was a flop. McEnroe, the man who had given Wimbledon some of its best tennis and vilest outbursts, was gone in 2 hours, 21 minutes.

Rostagno won it on speed and shot selection, always keeping the ball half a step ahead of McEnroe’s weary legs. When McEnroe hit a backhand return into the net on match point, Rostagno--who took Jimmy Connors to five sets here two years ago and had two match points on Boris Becker at the U.S. Open last year--finally had completed a major upset.

As Rostagno beamed, a sullen McEnroe gathered his gear, brushed past a ball boy, bowed to the royal box and stalked off the court. Whether he would ever return was anyone’s guess.

Graf, the No. 1 women’s player for the last 2 1/2 years who has felt the foundation of her dominance shake in recent weeks, beat West German compatriot Claudia Porwik 6-1, 6-2.

Navratilova, at 33 a relative ancient in the youth-filled women’s game, began her quest for a record ninth Wimbledon title with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Sophie Amiach of France.

Seles, the newly crowned French Open women’s winner, won the final 10 games to beat Maria Strandlund of Sweden 6-2, 6-0.

The men’s third seed, former champion Stefan Edberg, bounced back from early trouble to beat Brod Dyke of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Women’s fifth-seed Zina Garrison also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 over Britain’s Samantha Smith.

But Gomez was eliminated by American Jim Grabb 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. The Ecuadorean said he was tired and unprepared for the switch from clay to grass.

Also out was Mayotte, a quarterfinalist last year but a first-round loser this time to Gary Muller of South Africa, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Sampras, an up-and-comer who won a Wimbledon warm-up tournament last weekend, was eliminated 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 by Christo van Rensburg of South Africa, and Korda was ousted by Gilad Bloom of Israel 6-0, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.

Women’s 11th-seeded Natalia Zvereva of the Soviet Union, 13th-seeded Jana Novotna of Czechoslovakia and 15th-seeded Ros Fairbank of the United States won in straight sets. And the youngest of the Maleeava sisters, 15-year-old Magdalena, beat Catarina Lindqvist of Sweden, a semifinalist here last year, 6-7, 6-4, 6-2.

As the tournament opened Monday, Ivan Lendl won ugly. Boris Becker won dirty.

Lendl, the top seed, lost four of the opening five games against 22-year-old Christian Miniussi, an Argentine ranked 116th in the world. Though he recovered to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4, he seemed to struggle at times with the low bounce of the ball off the carefully manicured grass courts.

“I just had a terrible time with the timing,” said Lendl, beginning his annual quest for the only major title that has eluded him. “Every court plays differently and I just couldn’t get any rhythm on the return of serve.”

While Lendl was battling the bounces, Becker was simply trying to stay on his feet. The three-time winner repeatedly slipped and skidded on the grass.