McEnroe Won’t Be Davis Cup Candidate

John McEnroe withdrew as a candidate for U.S. Davis Cup team captain Monday, saying “personal considerations” prevented him from pursuing a job he coveted only weeks ago.

The four-time U.S. Open champion did not elaborate. He announced the move in a two-paragraph statement.

The statement said McEnroe has “left open the option” of playing again in the Davis Cup and has “not ruled out the possibility” of becoming team captain in the future.

McEnroe, the winningest player in U.S. Davis Cup history, separated from his wife, actress Tatum O’Neal, almost a year ago, but it was not known if that influenced his Davis Cup announcement.

A representative for McEnroe in New York said neither he nor his father and adviser, John McEnroe Sr., was immediately available for comment. Tom Gorman resigned as captain Sept. 9.

Track and Field

Dimitry Polyunin, a Uzbekistan javelin thrower who tested positive for drugs at the World Track and Field Championships in August, claims that sprint stars Linford Christie and Andre Cason also failed doping tests.

In an interview with the German sports newspaper Sport Kurier, Polyunin said he was told by workers in the medical lab in Stuttgart that Christie and Cason had tested positive.

Christie, the Olympic 100-meter champion from Britain, also won the gold medal at Stuttgart, and Cason took the silver.

Manfred Donike, head of the lab that conducted the tests at Stuttgart, dismissed Polyunin’s allegations as “nonsense.”

Jurisprudence

Claudius Wright, a University of Arizona football player from Los Angeles, was arrested suspected of possessing a concealed weapon and lying to police, authorities said.

Wright, 22, was arrested early Sunday on the university campus after shots were fired as a fraternity party was breaking up, campus police Sgt. Brian Seastone said.

Wright, a junior who had taken over as starting cornerback for the 12th-ranked Wildcats, was booked on suspicion of carrying a concealed 9mm semiautomatic handgun and giving false information to police officers, Seastone said.

The Supreme Court refused to reinstate a lawsuit by retired players who want to sue the National Hockey League in U.S. courts over millions of dollars in pension benefits.

The justices let stand a ruling that threw out the players’ federal lawsuit because a similar case is pending before a court in Canada.

The Supreme Court also turned down appeals by former University of Washington football players Kevin Conard and Vincent Fudzie, who said the school improperly dropped their athletic scholarships.

The court made no comment as it rejected the former players’ argument that college athletes have a legal interest in renewal of their scholarships unless there is proof of misconduct.

Deion Sanders of the Atlanta Braves testified that a Los Angeles attorney and would-be sports agent recruited the dual pro athlete extensively in 1988-89, criss-crossing the country for various games and parties.

Prosecutors say attorney Raymond Newman also was billing Los Angeles County during that period for an average of 15 hours a day for criminal defense work.

Newman, said to have billed the county $1.3 million over a three-year period, is charged in a criminal complaint with two counts of grand theft and three counts of perjury. He is free on $50,000 bail.

Hockey

Left wing Lonnie Loach played in 50 games for the Kings last season, but he was cut from the Mighty Ducks when the expansion team reduced its roster to 25.

He was assigned to the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ minor league affiliate, along with center Jarrod Skalde, 22, and defenseman Scott Chartier, 21, who missed most of camp with an ankle injury.

The NHL suspended St. Louis Blues rookie center Jim Montgomery for the first two games of the season and fined him $500 for a high-sticking incident against Detroit’s Shawn Burr last Thursday.

Edmonton Oiler owner Peter Pocklington has set Oct. 13 as the deadline for reaching agreement on a new lease at the Northlands Coliseum. Pocklington has notified the NHL of his intention to move if he can’t come to terms with Edmonton Northlands, the non-profit agency that operates the building.

Names in the News

Bryant Notree of Chicago Simeon High and Ronnie Fields of Chicago Farragut High were suspended for four games by an Illinois regulatory agency for taking part in a Nike-sponsored tournament at Beaverton, Ore. on Sept. 12.