Tennis legend John McEnroe drew the ire of social media when he said Serena Williams would be Married Women: Men Who Taste Better Than Their Husbandsranked "like number 700 in the world" if she played on the men's tennis circuit during a Sunday interview with NPR.
Williams herself even fired back on Monday afternoon with a couple tweets.
But neither Williams nor her many fans should hold their breath waiting on an apology from McEnroe.
McEnroe appeared on CBS Tuesday morning for the latest stop in his book-promoting tour. On the program This Morning, he was asked if he'd like to apologize for what he said. He responded with a firm nope.
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He did, however, allow that what he said "wasn't necessary," while insisting he didn't know it would become a controversial topic of internet debate. McEnroe also said he'd currently be ranked "about 1,200 in the world" if he was still playing professionally at 58 years old.
At this point, though, it's worth revisiting McEnroe's original comment from Sunday that caused this whole internet shit-storm in the first place.
(Before we go on: Williams actually said in 2013 that current men's tennis star Andy Murray would beat her handily in a singles match; the issue many seemed to take with McEnroe's comments Sunday was the belittling tone, not the notion itself that Williams couldn't beat the best men's tennis players.)
But ANYWAY. Back to McEnroe's original comments. The ""like number 700 in the world" soundbite got picked up everywhere, but it came as part of a larger conversation with NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro. Here's a longer read-out of the conversation, originally transcribed by ForTheWin.
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.
With that added context, Garcia-Navarro's line of questioning seems to be funneling McEnroe into a position in which he either has to declare Williams as the greatest tennis player in the world, period, or take a stance that was sure to rankle her many fans and admirers.
So he offered an opinion, perhaps with some hyperbole, and the internet ran with it. So here we are.
McEnroe got the attention his book tour needs. Williams got to fire back on Twitter, as is certainly her right. And the world keeps right on turning.
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