No Love Lost Between Player, Tournament Official Over Code-of-Conduct Violation : Tennis: Retired teacher, 69, sues SCTC director for $75 because she felt humiliated by public warning for tardiness.

In terms of intensity, it doesn’t compare to Borg-McEnroe. But Kall versus McCabe might be just as entertaining--at least to anyone other than Kall and McCabe.

Helen Kall, 69, a retired schoolteacher from Reseda, is suing Ron McCabe because she believes she was publicly humiliated when McCabe issued a penalty warning during a Southern California Tennis Club tournament in Van Nuys in April. Kall is seeking reimbursement of the $75 she paid to join the SCTC, of which McCabe is the founder.

The case, which is scheduled to be heard in Van Nuys Municipal Court on Tuesday, has piqued the interest of the producers of “The People’s Court,” the nationally syndicated television program in which actual small-claims cases are heard by retired Judge Joseph A. Wapner and decisions are binding. The producers will decide today whether to air the dispute.

Kall, a national junior champion in 1938 and 1939 who joined the Studio City-based SCTC earlier this year, had entered the men’s C division of a round-robin tournament April 12. She was late for her first-round match by 12 minutes while answering the call of nature and McCabe, the tournament director, subsequently informed the participants of a code violation.

McCabe, 43, of North Hollywood, said he called out, “Code violation, delay of tournament. Penalty warning, Kall,” in a raised voice within earshot of about 20 players and spectators.

As director of more than 1,000 tournaments since the inception of the SCTC in 1980, McCabe said, he routinely makes such calls. Warnings are issued to players who violate the U. S. Tennis Assn.’s code of conduct, which governs the behavior and sportsmanship of players.

According to McCabe, Kall was not immediately upset with him.

But Kall contacted McCabe by telephone shortly after losing her match and said she took exception to the manner in which McCabe informed players of the code violation.

“He yelled at me like a drill sergeant,” she said. “I resent it and felt humiliated. I still get upset when I think about it. There wasn’t any reason for it. This wasn’t boot camp.”

McCabe said his actions were common practice for code violations. In fact, under USTA rules, McCabe could have imposed much stiffer penalties. For every five minutes, and part thereof, a player is late to a match, an official can penalize that player one game.

Kall, he said, could have trailed, 0-3, before she stepped on the court. But he saw no reason to carry the warning further.

“In the last 11 years, I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve issued verbal warnings, aloud, to all sexes and all ages,” McCabe said. “She felt I should have taken her aside and privately told her. But that’s not the way it’s done.”

In fact, a 30-year USTA referee wrote to McCabe and said a private warning would have shown favoritism.

Kall did not see it that way.

“I am thoroughly versed in etiquette, and I have never had anybody yell at me before,” she said.

For the record, Kall lost her match to Herb Godell--a lawyer.

Kall once won an award for sportsmanship. McCabe is a former actor. Does Judge Wapner know what he is getting himself into?