McHenry playing defensive Tennys
Britt McHenry wants everyone to know there’s more to Tennys Sandgren than his Trump-loving tweets.
McHenry, who is set to join Fox News next month, told The Post that her boyfriend Sandgren is actually one of the “nicest guys you’ll ever meet” despite his controversial political views, which have plagued him all year long on the ATP tour. McHenry has had her own share of controversies since breaking into the sports journalism spotlight, including behavior that got her suspended from ESPN in 2015 and a tweet suggesting ESPN fired her last year because she’s “conservative.”
“I would say this about anybody, whether it’s NFL draft picks or tweets from seven years ago, my thing that happened three years ago — I know since he’s explained to me — that a lot has been taken out of context,” McHenry said in the bleachers during Sandgren’s firstround match at the U.S. Open.
“For all of us, there’s a lot more nuance than 280 characters allow. But I think through his play and his outstanding play today that he’s going to be able to show the world himself.”
The former ESPN announcer sat courtside for Sandgren’s match Tuesday, cheering him on as he defeated Viktor Troicki in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. The match lasted less than two hours in blistering heat on Court 11.
Sandgren, 26, had his breakout moment in January when he advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, but his underdog story blew up after anti-gay tweets he posted in 2012 resurfaced. He apologized after the tournament — his best result at a major over his seven-year career — and has since deleted the tweets, saying that he holds no “alt-right views.”
“I think he likes to keep things focused on tennis because of how things went down. The last thing he wants to do is distract from his game,” McHenry said about Sandgren now.
McHenry, no stranger to Twitter beef herself, learned her social media lesson after a video of her berating a towing company employee went viral three years ago. ESPN suspended her for a week at the time before cutting ties with her in 2017, amid the massive layoffs at the network.