McEnroe sees off the young Guy

Maybe he'd said enough this week anyway. The last sighting of John McEnroe after he'd beaten Guy Forget in the final of the KPMG Challenge was of him jogging out the side door of The Point, a minder in pursuit with shoes, watch and sundry items of clothing draped over his arm. A suitable image. The New Yorker chasing a plane to London to get to New York, creating chaos from order.

McEnroe generally had it all his own way in Dublin since Thursday with his contests against John Lloyd, Michael Pernfors and Bjorn Borg coming perilously close to mismatches. But this final was regularly in doubt, McEnroe winning the two setter with tie breaks and neither player once dropping their serve.

The closest anyone came to a service break was when McEnroe threatened Forget's serve in the ninth game of the second set and held two break points. Forget responded with two aces to ultimately haul the game into the tie break. There it simply hinged on a couple of points.

"Sometimes it's funny to see John out on court. Winning is sometimes like a matter of life and death to him. We are all competitive but he is the most competitive. That's just the way he is," said 36year-old Forget, a Wimbledon quarter finalist as recently as 1994.

"It doesn't hurt to lose to someone six years older than me. If I was playing all the tournaments and practising three hours a day I'd get a little upset. But I think it could have gone either way today. It was one or two points in each set."

Although the crowd clearly enjoyed the match, the questions over what sort of life span the event has are still there. It hinges on McEnroe, who still plays great tennis, a brand that nobody else has been able to match. Never having relied on power, the years have been kind to his game, although the stage-managed histrionics are occasionally absurd enough to take the game closer to panto that he or anyone else would wish.

Borg too is a draw although he doesn't want to play anymore which makes it increasingly obvious that players such as former Wimbledon champions Stefan Edberg, Michael Stich and most importantly of all, Boris Becker, will have to come through in order to keep it alive.

The event is scheduled to run next year with the Dublin and London events the two most successful on the calender. "I hope to be back next year," said McEnroe when receiving his trophy on court. That alone means it that it is highly likely to be an event next year, one that over 2,000 people wanted to see yesterday in Dublin.

1st-2nd: J McEnroe bt G Forget 7-6(8), 7-6(6) 3rd-4th: P Cash bt M Pernfors 6-1, 6-4