TENNIS ROUNDUP : McEnroe Loses and Says That It’s Almost Time to Quit

Goran Ivanisevic sent his long-time idol, John McEnroe, another step closer to retirement Friday with an easy victory in the quarterfinals of a $1-million tournament at New Haven, Conn.

After the 6-4, 6-2 loss, McEnroe said that his tennis days are nearly over unless he wins a Grand Slam event in the next year.

“Next year is going to be the last year I’m going to play a full schedule,” McEnroe said. “But I would reserve the right to play a couple of exhibitions and a tournament here and there.”

McEnroe, 32, who has won seven Grand Slam events, has left tennis twice before--for six months in 1986 and seven months in 1987--but said he won’t make another comeback on the ATP Tour.

“I’m not going to say that I’m never going to step foot on a tennis court again, because that’s absurd,” he said. “It may be almost nothing, but I reserve the right to play a couple of tournaments.”

Though disappointed in his play and his inability to make it past the quarterfinals since winning at Chicago last February, McEnroe still says he can win.

“It would be nice to go out next year with a bang. I still entertain the dream of winning a big one, or winning anything at this point. We’ll see what happens,” he said.

Defending champion Derrick Rostagno was down, 3-6, 2-1, in the second set when Czechoslovakia’s Richard Krajicek retired with tendinitis in his right knee.

Marc Rosset of Switzerland also advanced to today’s semifinals by defeating Michael Chang, 6-2, 6-3.

Top-seeded Boris Becker overcame a 2-4 second-set deficit with eight consecutive points for a 7-5, 7-5 quarterfinal victory over Jakob Hlasek of Switzerland in the $1-million U.S. Men’s Hardcourts Championship at Indianapolis.

French Open champion Jim Courier, who turns 21 today, staged his own second-set rally to defeat Andrei Cherkasov of the Soviet Union, 6-2, 7-5, and Pete Sampras beat Australia’s Richard Fromberg, 7-6 (7-1), 6-2.

David Wheaton joined Becker, Courier and Sampras in the semifinals by defeating Fabrice Santoro of France, 6-1, 6-4.