McEnroe May Have a Wedding on the Menu for Nov. 16

NEW YORK —  John McEnroe made news on two continents Thursday, with one report speculating he might be getting married next month.

The Paris-based sports newspaper L’Equipe, quoting a newspaper in southwestern France, said the world’s No. 2-ranked tennis player has invited a French chef to prepare a dinner for 30 people on Nov. 16 in Los Angeles. Among the invited guests is President Reagan, it said.

The newspaper Sud-Ouest speculated it may be a wedding dinner for McEnroe and actress Tatum O’Neal.

It said Solange Gardillou, head chef at the Moulin du Roc restaurant in Champagnac-de-Belair in the Perigord region, is to stay 10 days in Los Angeles to prepare a meal typical of the region.

On the menu is liver pate, trout with mushrooms and duck with walnut cake for dessert.

The newspaper said McEnroe and O’Neal spent two days last summer in Champagnac-de-Belair between the French Open and Wimbledon championships.

Meantime, in Sydney, the director of the Australian Indoor championships said he will ask that McEnroe not sign up for the tournament next year.

McEnroe, a four-time winner of the event, has pulled out of the tournament at the last moment two years in succession.

Each time, he had put the event on his official list of tournament “designations” handed into the Men’s Professional Tennis Council.

Graham Lovett, the director of the tournament, said he did not want another embarrassment over a last-minute withdrawal and will ask the New Yorker not to designate the event.

“If John wants to play, and I hope he does, I will give him a wild card instead,” Lovett said.