Why McEnroe won\u2019 t apologize for comparing Williams to male tennis players.<\/b>
\nSerena Williams\u2019s in tennis speaks for itself. But this week, retired player John McEnroe \u2014 who himself is a legendary tennis player and member of the International \u2014 decided to put his own strange stamp on it. In that quickly drew backlash, McEnroe belittled, albeit perhaps inadvertently, Williams\u2019s legacy. He was asked about the greatest tennis players of the sport, and said that while Williams has been dominating women\u2019s tennis since 1999, \u201cif she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.\u201d \u201cThat doesn\u2019 t mean I don\u2019 t think Serena is an incredible player, \u201d McEnroe continued. \u201cI do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it\u2019 d be a little higher, perhaps it\u2019 d be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players.\u201d While McEnroe isn\u2019 t entirely wrong \u2014 Williams has said similar things in the past, and in 1998 she \u2014 his observation, especially the 700 number he seems to have pulled out of nowhere, seems unnecessary. Williams\u2019s litany of accomplishments (which include, and a grand slam tournament win while pregnant) doesn\u2019 t need wins over male tennis players to justify its greatness. Since he first made the comment, McEnroe has been the subject of plenty of outrage for diminishing Williams\u2019s career in a flippant way. And he\u2019s responded by doubling down on his assertions, even throwing out the idea of combining the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours to prove who is really the best. At a glance, his stubborn behavior and controversy courting may seem brash and even strange for a man who in the past has gushed about how dominant and transcendent of an athlete Williams is. But there\u2019s also another factor at play here: McEnroe\u2019s got a book to sell. Right now the tennis season is in a bit of a lull as players gear up for the next grand slam \u2014 the four major tournaments (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and US Open) \u2014 of the sport\u2019s season. The Australian Open concluded earlier this year, the French Open ended earlier this month, and Wimbledon officially starts on July 3. Even though McEnroe has been retired for years, grand slam tournaments are still an opportunity for him to take home a paycheck \u2014 he\u2019s worked as a commentator for CBS, NBC, USA, and ESPN to analyze players\u2019 strategies, temperaments, and tendencies and offer live commentary on how a match is unfolding. His interview with NPR this week was a rare instance when people heard McEnroe\u2019s thoughts on tennis outside the context of a televised match. In that interview, which is part of McEnroe\u2019s promotional book tour for his new memoir, NPR\u2019s Lulu Garcia-Navarro asked him a series of questions about the best players in the history of the sport, eventually bringing up Serena Williams. What\u2019s fascinating about this interaction is that Garcia-Navarro does a good job of getting McEnroe to talk himself into a bit of trouble. It\u2019s not like he makes a totally unprompted and organic observation about Williams being ranked 700th; he\u2019s pushed and prodded into it a bit. Here\u2019s the full exchange (emphasis mine) : McEnroe could\u2019 ve certainly answered Garcia-Navarro\u2019s question more elegantly, and made a point about the differences between the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours. And in the past, he has, , called Serena Williams \u201carguably the greatest athlete of the last 100 years.\u201d After Williams won the US Open in 2012, McEnroe declared to those following his live commentary, \u201cYou’re watching, to me, the greatest player to ever play the game.\u201d But those sorts of comments don\u2019 t really get people talking. Whereas McEnroe\u2019s comparison in suggesting that Williams is \u201conly\u201d as good as the 700-ranked male player (a distinction that belongs to, according to the Association of Tennis Professionals) , even though Williams is unquestionably the most dominant tennis player of all time, is guaranteed outrage fuel. In short, NPR had a great interview with a great, controversy-stirring quote on its hands. And suddenly, during a quiet period for tennis, McEnroe found himself embroiled in a controversy. For her part, Williams largely brushed off McEnroe\u2019s comment, which actually falls in line \u2014 in terms of the women\u2019s and men\u2019s game being different \u2014 with statements she\u2019s made herself in the past. In a 2013 interview with David Letterman, Williams spoke candidly about competing against male players. She had no qualms talking about how different the sport is on the men\u2019s tour versus the women\u2019s tour: „If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose, 6-0,6-0, in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes, “ Williams told Letterman. „The men are a lot faster, they serve harder, they hit harder.\u2026 It’s a completely different game.“ Williams also explained that the physicality of tennis \u2014 on both the men\u2019s and women\u2019s tours \u2014 has evolved from decade to decade. Players are now stronger, taller, and more conditioned than they used to be. There\u2019s also, as she pointed out, a massive physical difference, in terms of the velocity of the balls being hit, the power behind players\u2019 shots, and the angles at which the ball comes at you. That\u2019s easy to imagine if you compare even the most basic stats of two players like the, who\u2019s currently ranked 32nd, and the, who\u2019s currently the No. 1-ranked in the world. And to be clear, it\u2019s difficult to believe that male players in McEnroe\u2019s glory days would be able to keep up with today\u2019s most elite players. That said, Williams being self-effacing and talking about her own game is a lot different in tone than McEnroe making an observation about her. She\u2019s not trying to quantify her legacy the way McEnroe is. She\u2019s not making a point in trying to gauge where she\u2019 d be ranked among the men. She\u2019s also talking about herself as opposed to someone else judging her accomplishments. After McEnroe\u2019s comments began circulating, Williams tweeted a plea for him to not mention her name in any future discussions he might have about tennis rankings: On Tuesday, McEnroe \u2014 remember, he\u2019s on a book tour \u2014 and was offered the chance to apologize for his statements and to honor Williams\u2019s request to keep her name out of this narrative. He didn\u2019 t take it. Instead, he rehashed what happened during his interview with NPR: McEnroe is being brutally honest here and seems to realize (\u201cunfortunately probably\u201d) that in defending himself, he comes off sounding crass or regrettable. But after repeating what happened, he also leaned into the controversy a bit more by floating a theory about men and women playing on the same tour: „Why don’t you combine, just solve the problem \u2014 I’m sure the men would be all for this \u2014 the men and women play together, and then we don’t have to guess.\u201d To be very clear, Serena Williams\u2019s tennis legacy has long had an unwelcome asterisk attached to it, in the form of. Critiques of her dominance and superiority have, in the past, often devolved into her. But I don\u2019 t think McEnroe is coming from those nasty places \u2014 especially since he\u2019s previously talked about Williams being the greatest athlete ever to play the game of tennis \u2014 as much as he is courting controversy and stirring up interest for his new book, (it hits stores Tuesday) . McEnroe made a name for himself as player by not only being good but also having a heart-on-his-sleeve attitude. As a tennis player, he was known for having the audacity to fight with chair umpires and referees. He may have stumbled into his comments about Williams\u2019s hypothetical ranking on the men\u2019s tour, but now it feels like he\u2019s solidly leaning into the controversy he caused. And he wouldn\u2019 t be in the position he is now \u2014 a best-selling author and commentator \u2014 if he were a meek or quiet player. With this drama, he\u2019s setting an expectation that his book might contain similar controversial observations and uncensored glimmers from the mind of McEnroe. Meanwhile, for Williams, his comments haven\u2019 t done as much harm. In fact, they and created a moment to appreciate her accomplishments. One of those accomplishments is that earlier this year, Williams won her, something current tennis greats like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will never have the chance to do. And if fans\u2019 sentiments weren\u2019 t enough, the timing of McEnroe\u2019s controversial comment worked out such that one day after he made it, Vanity Fair revealed its new cover featuring a pregnant Williams: In the accompanying, Williams talks about her plans to return to tennis in January 2018 after the birth of her child. \u201cI don\u2019 t think my story is over yet, \u201d she told the magazine. It\u2019s a reminder that Williams\u2019s legacy \u2014 of being the greatest tennis player to ever grace the sport \u2014 is still being written, and that she\u2019s still capable of achieving even more. And to the McEnroes out there, it\u2019s a reminder that she\u2019s the only one in charge of that legacy.<\/p>\n

\n

Similarity rank: 15<\/div>\n

Sentiment rank: 0<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

TW posts: 7<\/div>\n

TW reposts: 7<\/div>\n

TW likes: 10<\/div>\n

TW sentiment: 0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n