Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 27, 1990 TAG: 9006270032
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND LENGTH: Medium
Once again Tuesday, McEnroe's mouth got in the way of his talent.
"If I knew the answer to why I did those things, I'd probably be senator of New York right now, at a minimum, if not the president of the United States," McEnroe said.
McEnroe's moments of glory on Centre Court in three Wimbledon championships seemed far away as he absorbed a relentless assault of volleys and serves by Derrick Rostagno in a 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 loss.
McEnroe's earliest Wimbledon exit since 1978 forced him to take a hard look at his tennis future.
"I feel pretty strongly that this is just the beginning, but if I take a couple of steps in the wrong direction, in my opinion, I'll be out of the game in six months," McEnroe said.
The future looked wonderful for 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati, who became the youngest winner in Wimbledon history.
Capriati's 6-3, 6-1 victory over Canada's Helen Kelesi moved the happy-go-lucky teen into the second round. Also advancing were top-seeded Steffi Graf, second-seeded Martina Navratilova, third-seeded Monica Seles and fourth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini.
The women's sixth seed, 1989 French Open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, fell to American Betsy Nagelsen.
Meanwhile, five of the top men's players tumbled out, including No. 4 McEnroe; No. 5 Andres Gomez, the French Open champion; No. 6 Tim Mayotte; No. 12 Pete Sampras; and No. 14 Petr Korda.
Throwing in No. 16 Yannick Noah, who lost Monday, the six first-round losses were the most by men's seeds since Wimbledon began seeding players in 1927.
No. 3 Stefan Edberg and No. 13 Michael Chang avoided the carnage.
The big blowup that may have cost McEnroe the match came after he won an argument and just before the second-set break. Rostagno, serving at deuce, hit a first serve that was called good. McEnroe returned the ball long then complained that the serve was out.
After a lengthy argument, umpire Steve Winyard decided to play the point over.
The crowd cheered wildly when McEnroe hit long on Rostagno's next serve, and roared again when Rostagno won the game on the following point.
That was the beginning of the end for McEnroe.
Keywords:
TENNIS
by CNB