Terner Suspended From Tennis Team, May Not Rejoin Squad This Season

Harvard men's tennis coach Dave Fish has indefinitely suspended junior Mike Terner--the squad's number six player--following a match at University of California at Irvine over spring break, for continually maintaining a poor attitude and displaying irate behavior on the court.

Fish said yesterday he is unsure when or if Terner would be allowed to return to action

According to a teammate who asked not to be identified. Terner was suspended after "ranting and raving and swearing on the court in front of a lot of people."

The teammate added, "But I don't think that it was only that one thing. That [display of emotion] probably reflected the continuation of an attitude that Dave Fish didn't like."

Disagreements With Coach

"There's no doubt that I did a few things which Harvard tennis players are not supposed to do." Terner said yesterday of his suspension. "It's my responsibility to act the way [Fish] wants me to, if I want to be on the team."

Terner emphasized, however, that he and Fish had never been on an "eye-to-eye" basis. "Our values are so different. He wants me to conform in all these little ways and do a lot of things which are not natural to me. The majority of the guys on the team have had problems [with Fish]"

Fish described the conflict between him and Terner as "some difference of how I felt the team should be represented and how he thought it should be represented."

Terner began the season as the squad's number four seed, but--because of a series of losses--Fish later demoted him to the sixth slot.

Teammates expressed their concern that the quality of Harvard's doubles competition will suffer with the suspension of Terner, who was coupled with junior All-American How-ard Sands to form the squad's number one pair.

"Whatever happened is unfortunate for the team and for Mike," senior net man Alex Severe said, adding, "Mike is a talented player and definitely could have helped us a lot [Since his removal.] we've had to reshuffle our lineup."

Despite the loss of a skilled performer, most of the Crimson netmen said yesterday they understand Fish's decision "Terner hasn't been able to fit into our image as the Harvard team representing its school well," one player said. "Dave is concerned about how we look."

"At one level we understood that Terner was acting bad and he was not good for the Harvard image," another player said, adding that Terner" propagated the perception in the Harvard community that the Harvard tennis team is a bunch of prima donnas."

He added, "With him off the team we may be able to build a more likeable reputation There's no use in being in the top 20 if people don't like you."

Terner defended his behavior, saying. "It's really important that the people in the community realize that we are playing against professionals. Tennis is not a gentleman's sport anymore. It's out of the country clubs and onto the streets. It's a multi-million dollar game. The core of the team--[senior Captain Adam] Beren. [junior Warren] Groomsman. Sands and me--knows what it takes to be a great, and we try to adopt to this mentality of toughness and extreme competitiveness...We don't feel that officials stand up for us so we have to stand up for ourselves."

Return Indefinite

When asked if he would return to the team if he were allowed to. Terner said. "I'm very content with my life and getting involved in other things. Playing tennis is fun but sometimes it's a pain in the ass.