Social media is unlikeliest opponent to pile pressure on McEnroe
OF COURSE John McEnroe gets cut down in the culture war. If there was a sporting pundit likely to get on the wrong side of the demented hyper-sensitivity that now governs bewildering swathes of public life, McEnroe would be the obvious choice for many.
That, though, would be a mistake, and it would be to confuse McEnroe the contrary player with McEnroe the excellent analyst and co-commentator.
He has become a fixture of Wimbledon coverage at the BBC in recent years, and has also become an avowed enthusiast not only for the tournament, but also for its venerated place within the schedules of the British national broadcaster.
McEnroe will never beam with the unflagging intensity of Sue Barker, but he strikes an acceptably deferential tone when placing particular players and matches in the context of the wider Wimbledon lore.
On Monday night last, though, McEnroe drew the wrath of the social media bores. It must have been his turn.
His offence was daring to analyse the abrupt conclusion to the match involving England’s newest tennis hope, the brilliant 18-year-old Emma Raducanu.
She had to withdraw on medical grounds three games into the second set of her match against
Australian Ajla Tomljanovic. Raducanu had lost the first three matches of that set, after losing the first one to her more experienced opponent.
Their clash was turning gripping just as Raducanu began to suffer discomfort. She appeared to complain of stomach cramps, while also looked to have trouble slowing her breathing on occasion.
She had started the match superbly, but Tomljanovic had begun to take control as her teenage opponent began to visibly tire. When she requested a consultation with the doctor, the extent of her difficulties became apparent and it was no surprise at all when she did not reappear, and Tomljanovic went through to the quarter-finals.
‘I feel bad for Emma, obviously,’ said McEnroe on the BBC.
‘It appears it just got a little bit too much, as is understandable, particularly with what we’ve been talking about this over the last six weeks with (Naomi) Osaka not even here.
‘How much can players handle? It makes you look at the guys that have been around and the girls for so long, how well they can handle it. Hopefully she’ll learn from this experience.’
He went on to venture that the long wait the two players had to endure for their match to start might have led to the difficulties that ended Raducanu’s day.
This was all perfectly reasonable, of course, but the wrath was quick in coming. It was twopronged: that a man in his 60s dared to offer an opinion on the details of a match withdrawal that involved a teenage girl somehow became an example of white male privilege. Of course it did.
This imbecilic argument flounders in a number of ways, not least the detail that McEnroe was a seven-time Grand Slam winner, including three victories at Wimbledon.
The second criticism of McEnroe was on the basis that he wasn’t a doctor and so shouldn’t speculate on what befell Raducanu. He didn’t claim to offer a definitive diagnosis, but rather speculated as the commentators and other analysts had.
It was a big story. He is paid to offer an opinion on them.
One suspects that McEnroe will not be unduly deterred by another lazy Twitter pile-on.
He is a brilliant tennis pundit, explaining the details of the game but also the environment in which the top players have to perform.
During one rain delay last week, there was an enthralling discussion involving himself and Billie Jean King, with Barker skilfully chairing.
Barker actually didn’t do much at all, recognising the fascinating TV the two Americans were providing and so staying out of the way.
King has a regal air to her now, but she is one of the most important sportspeople of the last century, and she was a superstar during her career, not simply because she was a gifted player, but because she was a potent symbol of the battle women in sport faced, and continue to face.
King was particularly insightful on the expectation that the best players have to deal with. She revealed how she speaks with upand-coming players and asks them if they prefer to play on Centre Court or the distant, marginal ones. Anyone that prefers the latter? ‘They’re out of here,’ she said with a smile, jerking her thumb to the side.
It was funny, but also a glimpse of the ruthlessness deployed by the very best.
What was striking, too, was how McEnroe deferred to King. At one point, he thanked her for what she had achieved, not only in her career but also for the sport.
She accepted the thanks with a practiced grace, but it was also clear that this was someone not only used to being praised, but who also understood just how important they were in the history of their own sport, and sport generally. Barker sat back and beamed as the great American pair talked about the nature of fame and its effects.
Raducanu only finished her A levels before Wimbledon and is awaiting her results, but it seems obvious that she will not be distracting herself with university concerns.
Despite the difficulties that finished her involvement in this year’s championship, she seems set on a strong professional career, but she would also do well to heed the discussion between King and McEnroe, because she is already being burdened with expectations.
The BBC led the way in talking up Raducanu, and despite the global stars that descend on London for Wimbledon fortnight, there is nothing like a home favourite to excite the natives.
And following Andy Murray’s attempts to defy injury and rustiness, his exit moved the spotlight on to Raducanu.
In her interviews she has already shown a level of accomplishment that bodes well, but had she won through to the last eight this year it would have created a frenzy – even amid the excitement wrought by Gareth Southgate’s England team.
That claustrophobic scrutiny is now going to be a feature of her career whenever she picks up a racket at Wimbledon. It was also magnified this year because of the absence of British women’s No1 Jo Konta, who couldn’t take part after a member of her support bubble tested positive for Covid-19.
There is no escape for a British hopeful when the covers are taken off at Wimbledon.
And both Billie Jean King and John McEnroe made clear that thriving under the burden of fame is a critical aspect of succeeding.
They understand. They lived with levels of fame that only a very few, in any walk of life, ever experience. And they continue to do so, understanding that with the acclaim comes the more distasteful side of being well-known.
It takes more than Twitter fury to rattle the greats.
“She looked to have trouble slowing her breathing”