John McEnroe leaves live Australian Open TV viewers stunned on ESPN after having ‘zero clue’ who star player was
TENNIS legend John McEnroe has come under fire for not knowing anything about a star player at the Australian Open.
McEnroe admitted on ESPN that he had “zero clue” about world No. 150 player Zizou Bergs during the Belgian’s first-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas at the grand slam.
Bergs, 24, is ranked No. 129 in the world, having previously had a high of 112.
This is his second appearance at the Australian Open and third in the main draw of a grand slam.
Bergs took the first set off Tsitsipas before going down 5-7, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3.
American tennis pro Thai-Son Kwiatkowski hit out at McEnroe on social media for his lack of knowledge about one of the best players in the world.
“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.”
Kwiatkowski’s criticism drew support from the tennis community.
“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,” respected tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg commented.
Tennis broadcaster Bryan Fenley added: “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 piled in: “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?”
Last year, McEnroe also came under fire for not knowing who 28th seed Nicolas Jarry was at Wimbledon.