It was, he admitted later, “A scream that came straight from Queens, in his native New York, but that has travelled very far in the years since.” It is 34 years since John McEnroe electrified a first round match against Tom Gullikson with the immortal words, hurled at Edward James, the umpire: “You can’t be serious, man. YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS! That ball was on the line! Chalk flew up! It was clearly in! You guys are the absolute pits of the world…”
The assault rattled the British tennis scene. The tabloids, which had already labelled McEnroe “Superbrat,” went into a frenzy. He was docked a point for the initial assault, and later lost another point after he slammed his racquet.
Other memorable events on this day
1937: Joe Louis knocks out ‘Cinderella Man’ James J Braddock in 18 for the Heavyweight boxing title.
1965: Freddie Trueman, one of England’s greatest fast bowlers, ends his Test career against New Zealand at Lord’s, bowing out with a then world record of 307 Test wickets.
1994: Hosts USA beat Colombia 2-1 in the World Cup for their first win since 1950.
1996: Saurav Ganguly scores 131 at Lord’s on his Test cricket debut to become the first Indian to score a century on debut.
