On the receiving end of the tirade was umpire Edward James, who eventually responded by politely announcing: “I’m going to award a point against you Mr McEnroe.” “Everybody knows it’s in in the whole stadium and you call it out? You guys are the absolute pits of the world, you know that?” “Chalk flew up, it was clearly in, how can you possibly call that out?” he went on. His moment came in a first-round match against fellow American Tom Gullikson, who was serving at 15-30 and 1-1 in the first set when a McEnroe shot was called out.Īpproaching the umpire, he said: “Chalk came up all over the place, you can’t be serious man.” Then, his anger rising, he bawled the words that would stay with him for a lifetime and, for all his wonderful play and myriad achievements, earn him a special niche in the sporting annals. ”Superbrat” by the British tabloid media for his verbal volleys during his previous Wimbledon appearances. McEnroe already had a reputation and had been labelled It was 30 years ago this week when John McEnroe uttered what has become the most immortal phrase in tennis, if not all sport, when he screamed “you cannot be serious” at a Wimbledon umpire while disputing a line call.įor players brought up in an era of Hawkeye electronic detection devices, when line-call challenges are enshrined in the rules of the game, it is impossible to understand the furore McEnroe’s outburst caused in the civilized world of tennis.
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