John McEnroe retained his Honda Challenge title at the Royal Albert Hall when Frenchman Henri Leconte retired with back trouble. Leconte, his waist heavily strapped, tried to end many of the rallies too quickly and was down 6-2 4-1 when the match ended.
The finale produced the first real altercation of the tournament. In the first set Leconte twice asked umpire John Parry about line calls but a more ferocious outburst came from McEnroe. McEnroe stood nose to nose with the linesman and screamed the immortal words: That ball was clearly wide, suggesting also the linesman went away and watched the replay on television.
Leconte suffered a spasm and limped to the net to shake hands with a surprised McEnroe. I was playing good tennis and I was ready to take anything he had to offer, which can be fairly substantial, said McEnroe. He's had a great run so it's too bad he couldn't go a couple of games more. I felt he'd just gone mentally or just quit or something.
Leconte explained that although he could have played on he did not wish to endanger his next six months of competition. I know my back very well and I knew that if I went any further I was going to be off for six months. When you have three operations you get to know the feelings and I want to be ready for next year and the first tournament in Dublin.
Former British number one Jeremy Bates, competing on his first ATP Senior Tour, finished third overall after beating Connors 6-3 in the pro-set play-off.
