SERENA WILLIAMS FIRED back at John McEnroe last night after he said she would struggle to break into the top 700 if she competed on the men’s tour.
While McEnroe did qualify his comment by adding that he still believed Williams to be the best female player ever, the 35-year old was still less than impressed with his statements she said were not “factually based”.
Using Twitter, the 23-times Gland Slam title winner also asked McEnroe to respect her privacy as she was trying to focus on having her first child.
In an interview on Sunday to promote his new book, McEnroe said that if Williams played on the men’s tour, she’d be “like No. 700 in the world” but that she was also the “best female player ever, no question.”
However, he added that he wouldn’t class her as the greatest to ever play the game.
Was she trying to have her baby as she tweeted?
@Government Sachs: no but I do think he was promoting a book pretty successfully by insulting the best female tennis player ever.
@Deborah Behan: how did he insult her?
@MaryLoonyMcDonald: He tried to belittle her. Just to create controversy and media attention. A cheap shot from a nasty human being.
@Catherine Sims: he criticises male players too you know?
@Government Sachs: well if he does it’s on technical aspects of their game. Here he used a blanket comment to belittle her. There was no dissection on technique or anything like that. It was intended solely to belittle another athlete.
@Catherine Sims: welcome to the Real world
@Catherine Sims: but he was commenting entirely on the technicality of the tennis game, and how physicality is a central component of both men’s and women’s success. It was followed up by a comparison with other sports where strength is important, and was neither belittling not sexist.
@Government Sachs: so him being an equal opportunities geebag makes it ok?
@Paul Quirke: he’s paid to commentate and critique if that makes him a what you say it does then yes.
@Government Sachs: More likely posing for nude pics for the aptly named “Vanity Fair”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/40422852/pregnant-serena-williams-poses-naked-on-the-cover-of-vanity-fair
You see it’s all about her privacy, I wonder will the baby be afforded any privacy when it’s born or will it be plastered all over social media as a virtue beacon.
I don’t see how what he said affected her privacy in any way. He never mentioned her baby…she took the opportunity to put that out there herself. Her response is a bit weird.
@Jackie Caruana: exactly. Just making a bigger deal of it by sending a couple of tweets. Hence this article. She’s probably just bored.
@Jackie Caruana: I imagine she was contacted for comment
@Jackie Caruana: I agree and her mentioning she was trying to get pregnant made it worse. Wrong feminist comment to make to a stupid comment in any case. I bet John wishes he did not make the comment men are generally stronger than women but I bet she is in the top ten for strength for both sexes.
@Gillian Weir Scully: literally nothing you just said makes any sense
@Gillian Weir Scully: you are going to be broke if you are making feminist biased bets like that. The serve is probably the only stat that could be used to measure strength. At tournaments she only has a realistic chance of having a faster serve than 2 or 3 men (like David Ferrer).
@Gillian Weir Scully: top 10 for strength? You are on some wind up.
@Jackie Caruana: Well she has been drawn into a media storm that wasn’t if her making. Also the stress caused by this can’t help if she is trying to have a baby. Stress is a big enemy to that process.
@Catherine Sims: stress my arse. Cop yourself on.
@Catherine Sims: you can’t be serious
@Gillian Weir Scully: she is not trying to get pregnant, she already is pregnant, baby due end of August / early September.
@Catherine Sims: you are joking right? Right? Please tell me you’re joking…
There was a story about this in the journal yesterday. I made a comment that contained the word “feminazis” and the journal deleted it. Total snowflakes.
@P C: that’s probably because it wasn’t funny
@P C:
Hmm…you cry about not being allowed to complain. You’re an idiot
@beans not peas: it wasn’t meant to be funny.
@P C: just one comment! Find that hard to believe
@P C: Any comment using snowflake or feminazi or whatever other buzzwords the alt right webpages feed you should be deleted, Everyone is sick of it at this stage. The irony and projection is getting ridiculous.
@Rob Cahill: comments with those words shouldn’t be deleted, just ridiculed
@michael: I was only trying to fit in.
@P C: f
Respect her privacy?
@Lord Trollington: imagine a woman insulted a man to promote her book? She’d be destroyed on here!! She doesn’t want any part of this. He knows he’s irrelevant and mentioning her is the only way to get publicity. Sad.
John McEnroe, irrelevant to tennis?
What are you on about?
It’s a well known fact. There’s nothing controversial about it. There probably isn’t a single female player who could play in the premiership. Tennis isn’t any different. Male coaches regularly beat their top seeded female players in practice matches.
“You can’t be serious “
@Brian O Reilly: *cannot
@Brian O Reilly: cannot
She’s a dope
@Alan O’Rourke: she’s a feckin eejet
@Peedur Dante: and what of yours Peedur? If your life flashed before your eyes, how much of it would be of you practising with yourself?
@Peedur Dante: I really find it funny that the same men comment on all these articles all the time going on about how useless women are (which is normally the gist of what they’re saying). You’re totally right Preedur, if you compared any of those highly successful women to these losers their achievements would likely look like very little.
It just makes them look so small and bitter.
@Veronica: you’ve put 2 and 2 together and gotten 9. I played tennis once in leopardstown and I’d say they had to patch the roof. That’s up there with the rest of my ‘high’ achievements. I was referring to the tweet in the article. Keep reading between the lines. Make sure to wear your glasses when you do so!
@Peedur Dante: you’re a dope too
“In an interview on Sunday to promote his new book” quelle surprise McEnroe says something to generate a bit of controversy ergo publicity and the media jump all over it. Williams is one of the greatest athletes ever let alone the greatest tennis player ever, her record speaks for itself. Enough of the faux outrage please.
@James Dunne: greateat athlete ever is just nonsense though. She is the best “women” tennis player but no where near the best tennis player.
@James Dunne: The greatest tennis player ever she most definitely is not.
@Shane Kinsella: you left out that I actually said “one”of the greatest athletes ever, not the greatest. Certainly the best tennis player ever but hey I’m not a professional armchair commentator!
@James Dunne: best tennis player ever? Clearly you’re trolling.
@James Dunne: eh that’s what armchair commentator means, you’re not professional because you are simply sitting in your armchair observing..
@Shane Kinsella: I’m not a Serena fan at all… but saying she is nowhere near the best tennis player tells me you don’t know anything about tennis. She’s easily the best female tennis player of all time. If I had to pick the top 5 tennis players of all time, it would be maybe Serena, Federer, Sampras, Nadal and Navratilova..
Classy response from a wonderful athlete!
@Laura Walsh: McEnroe is a legend alright!
@Shane Kinsella: She said response. He didnt respond. That makes no sense. And he’s hardly as big a deal as Serena is.
Kind Madame, the Dear Sir is not on Twitter, most sincerest regards
I hope this turns into a challenge. Serena would be more than capable of taking a set off of him IMHO…
@Declan O’Neill: guy is nearly 60, most pro tennis players male or female in their 30′s should be able to win a set over him
@Declan O’Neill: not in his prime though.
Even at his peak, McEnroe probably wouldn’t have ranked in the top 700 either in today’s game. As he said himself ‘the older I get the better I was’..
@Bewarethebeardz: easily the stupidest comment on this thread. He was so supremely talented that with today’s technology and fitness he’d have been a top 5 player for a decade.
@Nial D: No he wouldn’t because of the very same technology and fitness regimes.
it sounds to me like he was asked a question and he answered it,people on here are making out he just came out with this.
Is the “Gland” slam a new tennis competition? And who is McEnore?
@KSI: Mind yer won beeskness
He was a bad tempered foul mouthed player and it seems that was just his personality. He is just trying to create controversyabd publicity for his book by attacking a powerful female athlete. He has all the class of a turd. Williams is trying to have a baby. Stress is a definite enemy to that process. She doesn’t need the stress of his attacks. Otherwise though his comments and his opinions aren’t her issue they are his. If he needs to attack others in order to draw attention to his book then it’s likely not to be a good read. He might be as bad tempered as an author as he was as a player. Seems like he is.
@Catherine Sims: whats all his “trying to have a baby nonsense” will it not come out if shes stressed?
@paddy: Paddy go away and educate yourself!!! Stress during pregnancy is bad for both mother and baby !!! That’s what it’s all about !!!!
@Catherine Sims: I agree listenign to the drivel he spews at wimbeldon he is as commentator well past it game is way too fast for him even if it is merely women playing it.
@Catherine Sims: who cares if she is trying to have a baby. He was asked a question and answered it. She is in the public eye and it may happen that someone is asked about her, gives a response, it’s published and she can either not turn on the news while she has her baby or just DEAL with it…
What a Muppet that McEnroe is, of course he was never anything else.
What the hell did I just read?
THIS article is Fake News! John McEnroe stated in an interview that Serena Williams was the best women’s tennis player ever. The interviewer pressed him by saying ” Why didn’t you say BEST TENNIS PLAYER EVER”. He replied that she wasn’t and that he believed she wouldn’t make into the top 700. She’s already been beaten by a guy rated in the 200′s .A month later he was rated in the 300′s. To have competitions which exclude participants by gender is the definition of sexism. So the gender classifications should scrapped .
Well if a man can win a grand slam while pregnant then fair play to them.
Hey John, You can not be Serious!