Tennis legend and current ESPN commentator John McEnroe has a new book out called But Seriously, which follows his first memoir, You Cannot Be Serious. McEnroe has been out promoting the book, and of course he was asked about the state of tennis today. It’s an exciting time for tennis, honestly – the years when Novak Djokovic dominated everything were sort of boring, and the resurgence of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have made everything so much more interesting. There’s a lot of stuff happening in the women’s game too, especially with Serena Williams leaving a huge vacuum with her maternity leave this year. McEnroe chatted with NPR several days ago about all of that and more. He was asked about Serena’s status as (arguably, or not so much) the greatest player in the Open Era, versus Serena as the unquestionable greatest female player of all time. This is what happened:
Lulu Garcia-Navarro: We’re talking about male players but there is of course wonderful female players. Let’s talk about Serena Williams. You say she is the best female player in the world in the book.
McEnroe: Best female player ever — no question.Garcia-Navarro: Some wouldn’t qualify it, some would say she’s the best player in the world. Why qualify it?
McEnroe: Oh! Uh, she’s not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?Garcia-Navarro: Yeah, the best tennis player in the world. You know, why say female player?
McEnroe: Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world.Garcia-Navarro: You think so?
McEnroe: Yeah. That doesn’t mean I don’t think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it’d be a little higher, perhaps it’d be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she’s so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke ’cause she’s been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The U.S. Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit — the men’s circuit — that would be an entirely different story.
At one point, McEnroe calls himself a feminist and Garcia-Navarro is like “what?” and he says, “Maybe at some point a women’s tennis player can be better than anybody. I just haven’t seen it in any other sport, and I haven’t seen it in tennis. I suppose anything’s possible at some stage.” The whole thing is a garbage take, but this isn’t even the first time that McEnroe has bitched about Serena Williams and female tennis players in general – he really does not have respect for women in tennis, and he honestly believes that the #1 woman in the world (whoever she is at the time) would be beaten by any man in the top 700. Which is garbage.
Anyway, Serena Williams heard about McEnroe’s comments and she tweeted this:
Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017
I've never played anyone ranked "there" nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I'm trying to have a baby. Good day sir
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) June 26, 2017
I think Serena just called John McEnroe fake news. She was basically like: John McEnroe better take my name out of his mouth right now. And he should. But I doubt he will. There’s something insidious about McEnroe’s train of thought, that female players will always be second-class because many would struggle to beat male players. It’s like McEnroe is telling men – bros, really – that the women’s game isn’t as exciting or interesting or as difficult. When there are men around the world who love watching women’s tennis, including many men in the top rankings of the ATP.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
This story made my blood boil yesterday when I read it the first time. Didn’t Billy Jean King beat some guy years ago to prove a point? I forget the details.
Read him again, he says she would beat men but it would be hard for her if she played the men circuit all year long.
Bobby Riggs. I was awake then. McEnroe probably was, too. It was a huge media event. A ridiculous sideshow that was part of the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 70s.
the movie is coming out this fall about this very match called BATTLE OF THE SEXES. its got emma stone and steve carell.
hope mcenroe buys a ticket 😉
Yes, She beat Bobby Riggs. But, to be fair, Riggs was 55 and King was 29.
Look, Men’s and Women’s tennis are two different games. We don’t know how Serena would do in the Men’s circuit. But that’s not the point. What McEnroe is saying that women can never be the best because they are women. And that is f**king bullshit.
“What McEnroe is saying that women can never be the best because they are women. And that is f**king bullshit. ”
Totally agree with your point ! For me it’s just sad that MacEnroe makes this dumb “provocative” comparison. And, previously he made the same statement that Riggs got famous for (yes, Riggs was 55 when he played against King, but he claimed he could still beat the top female tennis athletes) . So, 44 years later this starts a similar dumb “discussion” which – like you say – is just senseless; so, yes men are physically stronger – what’s the point?
And actually MacEnroe does support equal price money for man and women etc – it’s disappointing that he of course gets much more attention with primitive statements like this.
Yes, there’s a movie coming out about it-Battle of the Sexes-with Emma Stone and Steve Carrell playing Billie Jean and Bobby.
I would have loved to see Serena take on McEnroe. Even in his prime she would have beat him and he would be throwing a tantrum because she did.
Not a chance.
I’m a tennis player. Played in college. Serena would not have beat John McEnroe in his prime. That’s just not true. Women are powerful and fierce, but it’s just biology at a certain point. Something we can’t control, and we shouldn’t feel obligated to.
She could if he melted down in one of his trademark temper tantrums.
I agree about your biology point, Originaltessa. Pound for pound, men simply have more muscle mass than women do–even if those women train excessively and put on more muscle. I used to think otherwise, but different jobs (restaurant industry) and involvement in sports have shown me that I was wrong.
But I have to disagree with the idea that Serena couldn’t have beaten McEnroe in his prime. Tennis today is a far more physical game than it was in his heyday, and the woman is IN SHAPE! I think she would’ve held her own physically against a guy who was playing nowhere near as physical a game as tennis is today. Between the two of them, I believe it would come down to who has the better net game, as well as who is the better overall strategist. I’m more inclined to give McEnroe the edge when it comes to the net game. But I do think his infamous temper, and Serena’s proven strategical brilliance and better self-control, would give her the edge in a show-down between the two at their peak.
There are some sports that need a woman’s version and tennis is one. It is a different game for men and women . However basketball is not. There is almost no reason to have a woman’s nba. The Nba should be gender neutral
@Denisemuch Basketball gender neutral? As someone who’s played competitively and watched her undefeated women’s team get absolutely destroyed by a winless men’s team during a scrimmage-no. Men are physically bigger and faster and there’s no player in the WNBA that would thrive in the NBA. I’m sure the will to succeed would be there, just not the physicality, and there’s nothing wrong, as a woman, recognizing that.
And this McEnroe stuff is nothing. He’s a blowhard but he spoke the truth, very inelegantly, but it’s the truth nonetheless and something Serena has acknowledged herself.
Both sister were beaten by a man who ranked around #200.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karsten_Braasch
Braasch was described by one journalist as “a man whose training regime centred around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple bottles of ice cold lager”. He nonetheless defeated both sisters, playing a single set against each, beating Serena 6–1 and Venus 6–2
Your citation for a guy who beat them is twenty years old? Try again.
Matador, how about her own words?
“For me, men’s tennis and women’s tennis are completely, almost, two separate sports. If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes.
“No, it’s true. It’s a completely different sport. The men are a lot faster and they serve harder, they hit harder, it’s just a different game. I love to play women’s tennis. I only want to play girls, because I don’t want to be embarrassed. I would not do the tour, I would not do Billie Jean [King] any disservice. So Andy, stop it. I’m not going to let you kill me.”
I think she might have been able to beat him. I don’t think she’d be able to beat Federer or Nadal, but for some reason I think she could have taken McEnroe on. His build is quite slight, and he played in a different time when the requirements for him as a man were different. Could he beat Federer or Nada today? I don’t think so since he played in the 80s where a different strength level was required.
Also, the technology has changed where the serve is imperative. Maybe with wooden rackets where the serve isn’t as crucial she could possibly beat a guy.
How aboot we just say. She may have won a game or two maybe and he would’ve probably won a few more than her? Am I the only person cursed with a reasonable, diplomatic mind lol? (I’m kidding relax)…..but not aboot the tennis part. She’s very strong and an Icon regardless.
McEnroe in his prime was one of the most talented players in the history of the game. Williams, great as she is, has been beaten by relative scrubs on the women’s side.
John McEnroe is promoting a book and will say whatever is necessary to get him attention. If this means taking down the greatest tennis player in our time that is what he will do. And he calls himself a feminist. I feel sorry for his children. He is and always has been a loud-mouthed media hog.
John McEnroe did not bring up Serena Williams’ name. He was asked a direct questions by the interviewer. This is all a bunch of nonsense. However, I do understand both sides of the story. Serena had no reason to be po’d at McEnroe (if she even was) because the interviewer simply asked his opinion. I think he was being honest.
Sure but He also could’ve been a more courteous and tactful Sportsman and gentleman (like I aspire to be)
McEnroe had written something about Serena in his book; that’s why the interviewer brought it up. So it started with him.
There’s no way to know how she would fit in the men circuit.
Tempest in a teapot.
Exactly. Uproar about nothing.
Agree. He was led into murky territory by the interviewer. Nonetheless he went there “all in”. Not too smart. He may be right, he may be wrong, but unless we have a repeat of that 70s silliness with BJK and BR, we will never know. I, for one, can live without those shenanigans.
I’m an avid tennis watcher and used to play in high school. It’s kind of undisputed that even an average tennis player in the men’s top 100 of the ATP serves faster than Serena. Also, all grand slams are best of five sets for men instead of the best of three sets for women. I think the men’s division and women’s division is played differently and if Serena could beat djokavic, Federer, nadal, or andy murray or even wawrinka in a 3 setter I’d concede she’s GOAT. Idk, I think this is a nonissue and I’m a woman and a huge Serena fan and I agree with John McEnroe. I agree even with respect to steffi Graf or any of the other all time greats in women’s tennis.
Exactly. I love Serena, but men’s tennis is much more competitive; the serves, the length of matches, the competition at the top level. I don’t think she could beat Djokavic, Murray, Federer, or Nadal, so she’s not the greatest player of all time, but I suppose we’ll never really know as a match between any of them is unlikely.
That doesn’t take away from her achievements and doesn’t mean he’s not a feminist, or that I’m not one for agreeing with him. Feminism doesn’t mean blindly supporting a woman to the point you fail to be objective with the truth.
I tend to agree with these comments.
Like a lot of sports, men have a physical advantage that even the most talented women can rarely match. If that weren’t the case, then we wouldn’t need separate competitions for men and women.
I mean look, I’m pretty fast and I won my last 10K (1st for women) but two men still beat me. It sucks and it’s frustrating as hell, but that’s the reality.
I feel like the interviewer walked him into this one with full intentions of it going this way. He said she’s hands down the best female player. Now the 700 – sure, that’s a bit sketchy. He could have easily said “one of the top players across the board” and not given an actual number.
But I think the initial outrage by the interviewer was just stupid – and clearly done looking to get this sort of reaction. “oh you had to qualify- why not the best player?” well, maybe she’s NOT the best overall player. Just because she’s top for women doesn’t mean that she would be top overall because that’s not how it automatically works. If the people that she’s consistently beating aren’t comparable to the people the top men have to beat – well, we don’t know what would happen – and it’s impossible to know because they’re separate leagues, and people with individual styles
being discussed.
Wow Kitten – Congrats on your win! So impressed. 🙂
@Erinn, I agree. The text of this interview is messy. Obfuscation by the interviewer is clear.
That said, remembering his tormenting refs in his prime, I bet he’s fine. He dishes it but can take it too I think.
I’m glad Serena spoke up though. She doesn’t need hassles while being pregnant. Or anytime really but especially now, i’d hope people give her peace at this time.
In my non-expert opinion, there could be a way to determine who is the best player in the world, like by measuring performance in women’s circuit, on one hand, and on men’s circuit on the other, based on specific criteria, but the same criteria for the women’s game, and for the men’s game. Criteria could include overall number of matches from the start of their professional carrier up to a certain point – say off-season, how many GSs won, percentage of 1st serve in, 2nd serve in, number of Aces, number of forced, unforced errors, how many hours on the court during a certain match (the less the better), how many games for one player against the games won by the other player etc. Then compare, according to the same criteria, the best woman player, with the best man player.
NOT that it matters.
What does she mean, “anyone ranked ‘there'”? The “there” threw me off.
On the mens side
I read that to mean that she’s never played someone ranked as low as #700 (as in, she’s always been at the top of the game and so has never had to play against someone that mediocre). That was my take.
McEnroe is such a bitter betty.
He is looking for press for his book and brought up Serena for attention. He is a jerk and always has been.
I agree he’s a jerk, but he didn’t bring Serena up and he was happy to leave it at saying she was the greatest female player. He was then pushed as to why not the greatest of all players, so he answered. It’s not like he just randomly launched into a rant about Serena.
Right. Sounds like the reporter brought Serena up.
I think what he meant to say ( and I don’t condone the idea by any means) was that Serena – while probably able to beat some of male players in one-off matches, wouldn’t be able to keep up on a regular basis, because that would be exhausting and therefore physically impossible in the long run. Which is probably true, but has nothing to do with the definition of “greatest tennis player” ever: there is so much more to it than just absolute numbers, otherwise Laureus (or any other) Sports Awards would cease to exist: how do you compare a swimmer to a tennis player to a gymnast?
And McEnroe is an ass++le. No fake news here.
But he should have thought of a better answer.
Battle of the Sexes. A movie about that King-Riggs match comes out later this year. Looks GREAT!!
Didn’t this movie already happen??
yes there was the documentary. But apparently there will be a movie now with Emma Stone and Steve Carell.
He’s trying to stay relevant, and nobody would’ve heard about this comment if she hadn’t taken the bait..she guaranteed him a bit of coverage..all seems a bit silly
My daughter is a dancer and does yoga – she is in great shape. She taught my son’s football coaching group some yoga and ballet steps for their flexibility. They invited her to train with them and she almost fainted from the effort.
It all depends on our training and ensuing strenghts and abilities.
However, if women can beat men, why are sports separated by gender?
We need numbers, that is the mph average of strikes etc in order to state certain things.
There is also a biological reality – has it beed properly studied?
Edit: my point being – are women weaker than men or is it all cultural re: society’s expectations re: gender? Is Nadal stronger than Serena? Azarenka weaker than Federer?
Eh. I used to take yoga classes with an instructor who is the wife of a former NFL player/now offensive coordinator. She would get some of the players in to her classes ( vinyasa flow/ashtanga/hatha ) periodically for flexibility and they could not keep up with us, often aghast at how “out of shape” they were, and with a new found respect for the practice.
There are biological differences, female tend to have more endurance muscles in their abdomen and up to 40% less muscle mass in their upper body. We tend to hold our strength in our lower body. Muscle fibres are smaller than men’s. So in a sense I see them as two totally different sports, just like wheelchair tennis. It’s silly because you wouldn’t say Oscar Pistorius wasn’t a great runner (terrible person though!!) or is ‘only’ a great disabled runner, just because a man with two full legs might beat him.
So why can’t both Serena and Federer be great athletes? The only reason you need to qualify it is if you think one is inferior to the other. But they are not competing against each other, so they can both be great in their separate areas.
I know I’m late to comment but this just pissed me off!
Weird analogy, but let’s run with it. The question would then be, ‘is Oscar Pistorious the greatest runner of all time?’ and I think Usain Bolt might have some issues with that.
We women do ourselves no favor by ignoring biological truths like the reality of much greater upper body strength of men vs. women, those who do this just diminish everything else they say by spouting a falsehood. I think some people are afraid to say it because they think it means saying that men are better than women generally, which no one here is saying.
Physically, men ARE stronger than women. There is no shame in admitting that. That is how we are made. A man can never give birth – so there! (And if they could, I doubt they would repeat it because I do not think they could stand the physical pain or emotional upheaval women experience.)
I understood Garcia-Navarro as not comparing men’s and female’s tennis, but to just generally compare how much she has dominated her sport as compared to how the men’s number 1 has dominated his competition.
So in that respect she could be called GOAT.
SO MUCH THIS.
It does not make sense to call anyone GOAT. Even inside a sport its impossible to compare people from decades ago. You’d have to have face different competitors with different training methods. Or just look at medical progress. What did people do when they tore their Acl? Career over. Nowadays they can come back. Not comparable at all.
Comparing men and women does make even less sense and comparing difference sports does not make any kind of sense. Look at Michael Phelps. He has a huge amount of olympic medals but how many can even win such a huge amount? Basically no other sport has that many olympic medals to win.
You both have great points.
Yeah. Also every time I see GOAT I picture goats, with cute faces, hurtling themselves against walls etc. It completely takes me out of the topic at hand. lol
QueenB, Agreed. This seems to come up in men’s basketball, too. MJ vs LeBron. When so many factors are in play, it can never be an apples to apples comparison.
Serena is indeed quite powerful, but there are two things that would prevent her from beating any ranked male pro: 1) Movement and raw speed. Male players are able to run down shots that the women’s players can’t and 2) Male players put a spin on the ball that women do not. Women’s players, including Serena, hit their power shots fairly flat (which is why you see more errors from them). It’s just not a fair matchup.
Why can’t women players put a spin on the ball? I watch tennis a lot – Wimbledon is coming, yes! , I am pretty sure I saw some spins, not like the men players do. Or maybe I need glasses.
Ive been watching tennis and McEnroe for 3 decades and the one thing he does is stick to the facts, he’s a stickler for them. BS offends him. He didn’t pimp this subject he was asked and he said what he thought to be true. Considering his gravitas on the subject and knowing John I’d bet on him being right….
To be fair to him, while he’s being somewhat hyperbolic, even Serena herself once said she highly doubts she could crack the men’s 100.
She’s an amazing player, but I think people underestimate just how vast the differences are between male and female athletes and how much that factors into a sport like tennis (as opposed to something more plainly obviously strength based).
I used to play at a very high level as a teen, for a while was probably the best female player coming up in my country (a knee injury and rapidly growing disinterest stopped me in my tracks at 17) and on my best day a very mediocre male player could beat me without putting much effort in at all. The power in the shots is just something else. I couldn’t equal it for more than a shot or two, and just that was pushing it too far. I was strong too, and tall. I think the best I ever managed against a guy was a 6-2 6-2 result, and said guy was performing at nowhere near 100%.
TBH I’m not even sure I’d put Serena at number 1 on my list. Steffi achieved so much with so much talented competition, whereas Serena’s benefited from women’s tennis being in a long-term lull. For the same reasons I’m more impressed by Nadal’s achievements than Federer’s, as Federer had the luck of being around to pick up a lot of titles in that in-between time when Agassi and Sampras were fading and very average players like Hewitt and Rafter abounded.
I think Steffi did benefit from Monica Seles getting stabbed. After Seles was stabbed, she was never quite the same. Who knows if Steffi would have won quite as many titles if that stabbing had never happened.
thank you!!! People seem to forget that a lot when it comes to Steffi Graff. Serena is legitimate number one, without parallel stories.
Yes–and once you’ve reached a certain level, winning requires a great deal of mental strength and self-confidence. The Seles stabbing took out one of Graff’s main competitors for grand slam titles for years. Knowing that there’s much less serious competition out there increases your self-confidence a great deal–and can help you dominate (thus, the Graff era).
Yeah I was thinking about Seles the other day actually. That was horrific end. She was never a fav of mine but she was damn good player. Steffi wouldn’t have made it as far if not for Seles being out of the sport. I like Steffi too but Seles was a better player imo.
I’ve always said that John McEnroe epitomizes the burdens placed on women for being women. And more so black women. This guy spent his entire career shouting at umpires, ball boys, opponents, tennis raquets and even the actual audience. These werent tame rants either, he would routinely use obsceneties when things werent going his way. He was not only a major draw because of it, he became a major celeb even marrying Oscar winning actress Tatum Oneal who was Hollywood royalty at the time given her parentage. He then went in to build a career out of playing his angry self in guest appearances because he was considered so loveable. Serena yells at one umpire and there are a thousand hit pieces in the media. She dances a little jig after winning something and its oh my god how unsportsmanlike.
These two live complete opposites realities and John would do well to never ever say her name again unless its to acknowledge his privilege.
This.
Yes yes. Yes.
Well said!
WORD UP.
Preach, Ramona!
Yep. I think he knows this. The reminder from Serena via public tweet probably helped though.
What McEnroe did to Tatum … I can’t even talk about that. Didn’t like what he did to her there.
I don’t know much about tennis, but with sports in general women always have the qualifier “greatest female/women’s [x]” vs men who just get to be the greatest/best anything. For me, that’s the biggest qualm.
Good point.
Honestly I’m a feminist myself but what McEnroe said is right. Not everything is an attack on women, Serena is not GOAT because she couldn’t hold her on against Nadal, Federer or Djokovic. It doesn’t matter if she has more Grand Slams than them because she doesn’t have the same level of competition. Her biggest competition is her own sister, that’s not to discredit her, but it’s just facts. Besides women don’t play 5 sets at Grand Slams, which is completely unfair, you want to talk about equality, ask about that.
What percentage of tennis pros are women? If say 40% are women – and 60% are men – then one bad game for a man is going to do more damage to his ranking than it would for a woman because there’s more people in the sport in their league. I’m not claiming those percentages are correct either – but it’s something that would need to be factored in if the comparison was going to happen.
Serena is awesome. McEnroe is a douche. Nothing new here.
I think the people that get p*ssy about calling her GOAT get caught up in “best” or “greatest” being defined as being able to beat literally everyone else. I don’t think anyone calling her GOAT is saying she’d beat Federer (though I’d love to see that match). I think most of us calling her GOAT acknowledge there are biological differences between men and women, therefore Serena would likely not beat Federer in a men’s match. But we also recognize there is no man like her. Serena dominates the women’s field like no man is dominating the men’s field (or has ever dominated the men’s field). That’s what makes her GOAT.
Thank you for being the only sensible comment in this thread.
Her competition isn’t close to what the men’s is. Two years ago when she was named SI athlete of the year she won 55 matches, 5 against top-10 players. Novak Djokovic that same year won 76 matches, 36 against top-10 players, many of those against all-time greats. Doesn’t mean she’s not great in her sport but to say that she dominates her field more than any man does his is a non sequitur.
What he’s saying is wrong, if the yardstick is number of tournaments won. I guess his point is a woman can’t be the GOAT if she has only proven to be the best woman (played other women) at the game, since men are stronger and faster and the men’s game is different. Wheras if it were a man said to be the goat he wouldn’t dispute it despite the man never having proven he’s better than the women.
I think McEnroe is applying the wrong criteria which, truth be told, is an honest mistake. Instead of thinking in terms of her beating a dude, think in terms of weeks at number 1, number of slams won, length of career, impact on the popularity of the sport, etc.
Men and women are physically different, so the whole could she beat a dude thing is a straw man argument. I don’t think he meant any harm, though. He’s a guy of a certain age and many of them need to be coached (pun intended) to think differently as opposed to the “norm” which is pretty sexist.
This is exactly it, he’s trying to make a comparison out of two categories with different characteristics.
The logic is flawed, which makes the conclusion flawed as well.
She has better things to focus on.
Biology is not politically correct. Men are physically stronger than women, there’s a reason we don’t have men v women matches in sports. Otherwise most of the top ranks would be dominated by men.
There’s not just physical strength — there’s also mental strength.
On a mental level, I think it’s possible she could be stronger than a man, but how you would account for that, I’m not sure. Because of how she looks, people seem to like to talk about her physical attributes. But she does have also have a great deal of mental strength in terms of not only beating her competitors, but also overcoming the obstacles (and possibly rude chatter from other tennis players and the media) that might ordinarily prevent a person of colour from succeeding in a really white sport like tennis.
It’s hard to believe that at this point in her career, some people are still acting like she still has to prove herself smh
Ugh he can be a loud mouth and jerk but sounds like he was just saying you can’t really compare… he gave Serena her credit for being the best female player but that you can’t compare to the men’s league. We shouldn’t have to because she is a honored and from the looks of the comments loved player. The reporter was mixing the pot of drama. And Serena bit the bait. Focus on your baby and your awards then! Feminist here and acknowledging that men and women are in 2 different but equally talented leagues is not sexist!
I heard the interview at the time. Truth – McEnroe often acted like a jerk on court, and no woman or person of color would have been able to get away with that behavior. Truth – Serena Williams is an incredible athlete and seems like an amazing person (LOVED the Vanity Fair article – thanks for the link in an earlier piece!). HOWEVER, while he may have been incorrect when he said she would be beaten by men ranked above 700, he was absolutely correct that if she was routinely playing against professional men she would not be ranked #1 and she would not have won tournaments. How you decide someone is GOAT is up to you, there is no “objective” standard, and I’m happy to call Serena GOAT. But I’m not mad at what he said or how he said it. Link to radio piece here: http://www.npr.org/2017/06/25/534149646/but-seriously-tennis-great-john-mcenroe-says-hes-seeking-inner-peace
“McEnroe often acted like a jerk on court, and no woman or person of color would have been able to get away with that behavior.”
Um, Serena has acted like a jerk on the court quite often and, among others things, was given a slap on the wrist for intimidating a lines person, suggesting Williams would like to shove the ball down her throat.
I think McEnroe is being called out unfairly here. He was asked specifically whether Serena was the greatest player of all time, and rightly said that you can’t really make that claim given the physical differences between men and women’s tennis. That seems to be a purely factual statement to me (for example, Serena’s serve is the most consistently fast ever in the woman’s game, but wouldn’t put her in the top 200 of current male players), and doesn’t take anything away from Serena.
As a tennis player myself and fan I do believe Mac has a point. Granted I don’t think Serena would be ranked in the 700 if she played in the men circuit…maybe top 200? But to think she could beat some of the men in the top 50 at this point I think is silly.
Modern improvements to raquets and strings have pushed both the women’s game and men’s…but men now are serving well into the 130’s, high 140’s with some men hitting 154 mph. If anyone has faced serves that fast…well that is freakin fast. Plus on top of that they put spins and slices which add more complexity and difficulty to the shot. Even men’s forehands alone have been clocked at 95 to 110 mph with heavy spin and top that gives extra kick to the ball…making it very tough to hit.
I do think the women’s game has problems with little diversity in training and how they play the game. It’s become very one dimensional with pure baseline power play. Very boring for me seeing women just bang it from the baseline. All two handed backhands with little variation. With Justine Henin gone who was the last of the women serve and volleyers, the womens game is really boring. And Let’s face it Serena was one of the main attractions and now that she is gone the women’s game is essentially filled with a bunch of no body’s with the exception of Sharapova who has her own set of problems.
I have no problems seeing women play on the men side. In fact I think that would be cool someday. But I do think the women’s game needs to change some things before that happens. The mens game has matured faster in some ways and I do think the women need to play catch up on some levels.
And while I personally think Serena is tops on the women side right now., I do think Steffi Graf would give her a good run for her money when it comes to being called the GOAT on the womens side. Martina while great I think would be over powered by Serena.
As for GOAT in tennis,,,I still think belongs to the FED. I’ve just never seen a player like him…man or woman…play the way he does. He is truly a once in a lifetime player.
Her response really does not make sense. Maybe she did not read the interview but he was asked about her, that is why he mentioned her name.
He was asked about her because he wrote about her in his book.
As much as I admire and respect Serena Williams, the negative nelly that is John McEnroe has a sliver of a point. Serena could beat the pants off of some men in their circuit, however, some men could beat her. Just because of speed and the power of how men hit the ball versus women. It’s just physics; however McEnroe needs to stop yapping about Serena. She could kick his a$$ on and off the court.
She wouldn’t beat any men on the tour. Wish she’d play one once so we could end all this speculative nonsense.
No one would be buying his boring book if he didn’t say something controversial to up sales. Fake news maybe, old news certainly.
Oh, please. He didn’t disrespect her at all. She is the best female tennis player of all time, but she wouldn’t stand a chance at doing well on the men’s tour.
No way serena’s going five sets against the top men. Equal money for unequal performance. About time women play five set slam tournaments.
This isn’t disrespectful to me. It doesn’t take away from what Serena has accomplished.
I don’t think he was disrespectful, I think he got asked a question he didn’t expect and just got flustered. I don’t think Serena would be able to beat the top men, even though I think she is an amazing athlete. MY issue with what McEnroe said is that he is discounting her talent and power based on a biological fluke. Men have an advantage, but it isn’t something they earned or worked on, it’s just genetics. If you take the biology out of the equation and just rank her based on her skills, I think she would be in the top overall.
No chance. Serena’s skills are decent compared to other female players, though nowhere near those of, say, Martina Navratilova or Martina Hingis. Power is her biggest attribute. There is no comparison between her skills and most of the male players.