Tennis: McEnroe's bad language warning

JOHN McENROE has suggested he should wear a censorship warning on his forehead to avoid offending officials and fans.

McEnroe, speaking after he verbally abused an umpire and opponent in a seniors event in Sydney last week, said the prominent label may be the answer to ensure he upsets no one in a similar tournament in Melbourne, which starts today.

The former world No 1, who offered no apologies for his behaviour during a semi-final defeat of the Swede Mikael Pernfors, reckons that the label will warn people of his possible use of obscene language. Certainly, the player once known "Mac the Mouth" was unabashed in his criticism of the Australian umpire, Wayne McKewen. McEnroe told the official to "get some toilet paper and clean that shit out of your mouth" after one disputed call.

He claimed that the public would probably hear worse at a rugby or Australian Rules match if microphones were placed in the middle of the pitch.

Spain's two French Open champions, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Carlos Moya, will be the top seeds at the Hopman Cup in January. Seeded second for the mixed teams event in Perth, Western Australia, are the US team of the new world No1, Lindsay Davenport, and Jan-Michael Gambill.

Slovakia's defending champions, Karol Kucera and Karina Habsudova, are seeded third. Amanda Coetzer and Wayne Ferreira, of South Africa, have been seeded fourth in the eight-team tournament, which takes place from 2 to 9 January, seen as a warm-up event for the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Sweden and Switzerland join Australia as the remaining three teams with direct entry. The Swiss team features the world No 2, Martina Hingis, and Ivo Heuberger. Mark Philippoussis will be joined by the teenager Jelena Dokic in the Australian team. Dokic, 15, made her debut in the Fed Cup for Australia in July before winning the US Open junior girls' title.