| | Reuters
LONDON -- John McEnroe, preparing to face
old rival Bjorn Borg at the Seniors Tour tournament at the
Albert Hall on Friday, has blamed the media for the break-up of
Boris Becker's marriage.
The three-time Wimbledon champion may not be the force he
once was on the tennis court, but he continues to be the most
outspoken ambassador of men's tennis.
"The media should go out with a glass of champagne because
they've contributed to the break-up," McEnroe said in a news
conference Thursday.
Becker announced this week that he and his wife Barbara had
split just two weeks before their seventh wedding anniversary.
McEnroe added: "How much money do they (the media) want to
leave us alone? We'd all pay up to be left alone, but I don't
see any of them giving us our privacy.
"The type of people who do that for a living will end up in
a miserable place -- their karma will get them eventually."
The 41-year-old American also attacked the ATP Tour for
driving players, including Borg, out of the game prematurely
because of the punishing tournament schedule.
Borg virtually retired from mainstream tennis after his
loss to McEnroe in the 1981 Wimbledon final as he felt burnt out
chasing ranking points on the Tour.
"The traveling put me in an impossible situation in the
last few years of my career when the ATP changed the ranking
system," said McEnroe, a former No. 1 and winner of seven
Grand Slam singles titles.
"They suddenly said you could play 30 tournaments but only
your best 14 would count.
"What that said to me was that anyone who had a wife and a
kid, and who wanted time off, had to forget about them or your
ranking went down ten spots.
"The ATP went totally behind our backs and did the wrong
thing," McEnroe said. "Every one of us, whether it was Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl
or myself, agreed privately that we should have fewer
tournaments in a less demanding schedule, but every event would
count.
"It's bull to say the ATP did something in the best
interests of the game. They pushed people out of the game, Borg
being the first of many. His story should be chronicled as one
of the all-time embarrassments of the ATP," McEnroe said.
| |
ALSO SEE
McEnroe beats Bahrami, sets his sites on Borg at Honda Masters
|
