There was a time when sportsmanship went hand-in-hand with the game of tennis, when the terms honor, respect, and gentility had some significance on the court.
Many believe those days are fading fast.
Obstinacy, rudeness, vulgarity, and disrespect have become commonplace forms of behavior for some of the world's top tennis players. With increasing frequency in recent years, players have succeeded in turning center court into their personal sideshow.
For veterans of the sport, the state of the current professional game represents a distressing departure from the days when the courtesies were taken for granted.
It is a phenomenon, many feel, that must be halted.
"It's very disturbing to watch, certainly," said Ken Rosewall, the 1956 U.S. Open champion. Currently a Grand Masters player, Rosewall is saddened by the lack of sportsmanship he feels has tarnished the professional game.
"For a lot of the older players my vintage and older, its difficult," he said. "We've given pretty much all of our lives to the game, and its not very enjoyable to see the kind of behavior that is going on now. People who go to watch tennis go because they enjoy the game; not rude behavior. It is a very unsettling situation."
Boca Raton, Fla-By the time Jimmy Connors had finished ranting at umpire Jeremy Shales Friday, he was also finished in the $1.8 million Lipton International Players Championships Tennis Tournament, defaulting after battling Ivan Lendl in a three hour, forty-three-minute semifinal match on the hard courts at Boca West. Livid over a line call he felt was wrong, Connors sat down and refused to return to the court while trailing in the final set 3-2, 40-0.
Connors' failure to resume play at Boca Raton on February 21 led the Men's International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC) to impose a ten-week suspension and a $25,000 fine on him.
The suspension is the longest handed down by the MIPTC since it levied a one-year ban against Guillermo Vilas of Argentina, a ban which Vilas latter successfully appealed.
The most successful player since tennis became open in 1968, Connors is the first (and only) man to win three of the world's top four tournaments since Rod Laver won the Grand Slam in 1969.
"I play every match like it's the final of Wimbeldon or the U.S. Open," Connors is fond of saying.
In a spirited news conference following his default at Boca West, Connors said: "I had had enough. The guy's in the chair and he's got a job to do and doesn't do it.
"If there's incompetence there, I don't want to play anymore," he said.
"The whole situation is definitely a controversial
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