Seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe has been slammed over his commentary after fans claim he didn’t know who the lower-ranked players were at the Australian Open.
The 64-year-old legend has been doing double duty for both ESPN and Australia’s Channel 9, but it was his role early on the second day of action at Melbourne Park that raised more than a few eyebrows.
During the match between seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and lucky loser Zizou Bergs, McEnroe — commentating alongside Nick Kyrgios — reportedly admitted he didn’t know anything about Bergs.
The 24-year-old Belgian is ranked No. 129 in the world, having previously sat at a high of 112.
Bergs was only called into the tournament at the last minute after Tsitsipas’ initial first-round opponent, Matteo Berretini, withdrew from the event with a foot injury.
It meant Bergs got to have his third start in a Grand Slam and second at Melbourne Park.
And Berg put his best foot forward, claiming the first set before the Greek star changed gears, ultimately winning 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
But it was the former notorious hothead McEnroe who had tongues wagging after seemingly knowing nothing about the Belgian, despite it being part of his job.
World No. 316 American Thai-Son Kwiatkowski made waves when he took aim at McEnroe.
“Insane to me that time and time again J. McEnroe goes on air and just admits he has zero clue who a player is,” Kwiatkowski wrote. “(Today, bergs, 120 atp) just says to the world, hey guys, I’ve done zero research for my job and I’m just going to disrespect someone who’s top 150 in the world at a job.”
The 28-year-old was greeted with plenty of support from others in the tennis community.
Tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg unloaded on McEnroe, writing: “It’s not only disrespectful to the players, it’s disrespectful to the audience at home to be that unprepared, especially when given plenty of time to prep and a whole production crew ready to get you up to speed.”
Tennis broadcaster Bryan Fenley commented: “As a commentator on the #ATP Challenger Circuit, I can honestly tell you that every night before calling matches, I’m up until 2-3 AM doing prep work. Showing up to work studied and well-researched is a sign of respect to the players, which they deserve.”
WTA broadcaster Anne-Marie Batson agreed: “I commentate on #WTA matches, mainly 250s. Say I have three matches. Prep takes 5 hours, roughly. Research everything, 6 x player notes (written & typed), 3 x scripts, video clips, audio (names pronunciation), H2H, etc. Must do the work. Otherwise, what’s the point?”
The Times’ tennis corresponded Stuart Fraser tweeted: “Was the same with (Dino) Prizmic yesterday.”
Tennis broadcaster Myles David added: “How do you suspect we get newer, better prepared and knowledgeable voices in the commentary booth? Because i agree. He’s keeping that job based on ‘name recognition’. Not how well he does at it.”
It’s not the first time McEnroe has been slammed for not knowing who a player is.
At Wimbledon last year, recently retired Aussie star John Millman savaged McEnroe for not knowing who then 28th seed Nicolas Jarry was.
“How a commentator can say ‘we don’t know Jarry but we’ll get to know him’ is beyond ridiculous. 87 million people play tennis worldwide and this guy is the 28th best at it currently,” Millman tweeted.
McEnroe is a human headline however, calling out the Australian Open for adding the 15th day to the schedule in 2024.
“First of all, it’s a money grab as far as I’m concerned,” McEnroe said on an ESPN conference call.
“They just found another way to make some money. I don’t agree with it. I’m a commentator. No one’s particularly concerned about my feelings. The players, if they accept it and they’re getting something from it, like some money for their pensions or retirement for some players that don’t have insurance, I would say that’s a good thing that they have added an extra day.
“I don’t think that has happened (players getting more money), just like it didn’t happen at the French Open. I completely disagree with it. That’s probably me being selfish that I have to be away from home an extra day or two.”
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