One of the most important voices in tennis, John McEnroe, sparked a debate in tennis about female players’ rights with his opinion on periods and how men are so unaware of it.
John McEnroe‘s career stretches beyond the number of titles or grand slams he won for himself; he is a global tennis icon who dominated and entertained the fans in the 80s and 90s. McEnroe is often considered one of the greatest men’s tennis players to hail from the USA. However, it is also frequent that one can see his name pop up in controversial statements and tennis takes.
After McEnroe permanently retired from the sport, he decided to take up commentating games as his next role.
The ever-controversial John was in the spotlights once again when he decided to chime in on the commentary situation in the men’s and women’s sports where he explained why the two genders should not overlap each other in their categories. Previously, John had been criticized for saying that women should not be allowed to commentate on men’s tennis.
The reasoning he gave behind making such a bold statement was that he felt that only a man could truly understand other men’s actual mindset and game plans, something that a woman might do inefficiently or incorrectly.
But, John also added to his previous statements by saying that the same rule applies to males as well who commentate on the women’s game and said that they wouldn’t even know how a woman normally feels during her periods, questioning the male knowledge about periods, etc.
“I don’t know any women who know the men’s game. At the same time, I’m not sure men can really know the women’s game. I mean, how would they know how women are feeling at a certain time of the month?,” John McEnroe said.
The American legend faced huge backlash for making these statements about the gender confluence between the divisions and the commentary teams.
Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf, crowned victors of Pickleball Slam 2, defeated the duo of John McEnroe, and Maria Sharapova.
Season 2 of the Pickleball Slam concluded with a Tennis super couple beating the legendary duo of John McEnroe and Maria Sharapova to capture the title and one million US dollars in prize money.
Pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the US and former players like John McEnroe and Andre Agassi have come forward to show their support for the sport. They featured in last year’s Pickleball Slam as well partnering with Andy Roddick and Michael Chang.
Speaking on the rise of Pickleball and the appeal of this mini version of Tennis, McEnroe said that it comes down to the simplicity of the game which is the crowd puller. But, he also mentioned that Tennis is still the King sport and can’t be replaced.
“To me, tennis is always the king. But it’s easy to play this. That’s why my friends play with me all the time,” McEnroe said, when asked to comment on the rise of this new game.
