John McEnroe was blown out of Wimbledon today, his earliest exit from the tennis tournament he has won three times.
McEnroe showed some of his old temper but not his old tennis. He argued line calls but hit too few lines, and was dumped in the first round by Derrick Rostagno, a long-haired Californian ranked 129th in the world, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4.A semifinalist here a year ago and seeded fourth this time, McEnroe showed his age. Rostagno won the first three games of the match and, even though McEnroe came back to tie the set 5-5, the 31-year-old American never mounted a serious challenge.
A year ago, McEnroe came back from two sets down to beat Darren Cahill in the first round. That was the first time he had done that in his long, flashpaper career, but the feat was not to be duplicated this hazy day on Centre Court.
Other seeds lost, too, on Wimbledon' second day.
Out were sixth-seeded Tim Mayotte and 12th-seeded Pete Sampras of the United States; fifth-seeded Andres Gomez of Ecuador, the French Open champion; and 14th-seeded Petr Korda of Czechoslovakia.
The battle for supremacy in women's tennis began as well, with top seeds Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles turning in impressive performances. Fourteen-year-old challenger Jennifer Capriati started, too, and had tough acts to follow.
But the big act was a flop. McEnroe, the man who had given Wimbledon some of its best tennis and most vile outbursts, was gone in 2 hours, 21 minutes.
Rostagno won it on speed and shot selection, always keeping the ball a half-step ahead of McEnroe's weary legs. When McEnroe hit a backhand return into the net on match point, Rostgano - who took Jimmy Connors to five sets here two years ago and had two match points on Boris Becker at the U.S. Open last year - finally had completed a major upset.
As Rostagno beamed, a sullen McEnroe gathered his gear, brushed past a ballboy, bowed to the royal box and stalked off the court. Whether he ever would return was anyone's guess.
Graf, the No. 1 women's player for the last 21/2 years who has felt the foundation of her dominance shake in recent weeks, beat West German compatriot Claudia Porwik 6-1, 6-2.
Navratilova, at 33 a relative ancient in the youth-filled women's game, began her quest for a record ninth Wimbledon title with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Sophie Amiach of France.
Seles, the newly crowned French Open women's winner, won the final 10 games to beat Maria Strandlund of Sweden 6-2, 6-0.
The men's third seed, former champion Stefan Edberg, bounced back from early trouble to beat Brod Dyke of Australia 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1. Women's fifth-seed Zina Garrison also won in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 over Britain's Samantha Smith.
But Gomez was eliminated by American Jim Grabb 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. The Ecuadoran said he was tired and unprepared for the switch from clay to grass.
Also out was Mayotte, a quarterfinalist last year but a first-round loser this time to Gary Muller of South Africa, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5, 6-3. Sampras, an up-and-comer who won a Wimbledon warmup tournament last weekend, was eliminated 7-6, 7-5, 7-6 by Christo van rensburg of South Africa, and Korda was ousted by Gilad Bloom of Israel 6-0, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.