Seriously, McEnroe?

JOHN McENROE warmed up for a controversial Wimbledon fortnight by hitting out at the harsh sentences imposed on tennis players for drug-taking.

At a pre-tournament event promoting his second memoir But Seriously, the BBC pundit said of Dan Evans, found positive for taking cocaine: ‘They are saying two years. That’s harsh. I’d say two months.’ And of Maria Sharapova, who served a 15-month suspension: ‘That was a long time. I’d give her a wildcard for the US Open.’

McEnroe also had another pop at Serena Williams, who, he believes, would be beaten by the world’s 700th ranked man. ‘She told me I was invading her privacy. Then she’s all over Vanity

Fair in a pose like Demi Moore,’ he said. McEnroe himself has had a drug-filled past, especially during his marriage to Tatum O’Neal, and he admits his sons starting doing drugs after finding his personal stash of marijuana.

ALL England Club chairman Philip Brook’s daughter Vicky works in tennis as a players’ agent with her clients including British No 1 Jo Konta and promising young men’s player Jay Clarke, from Derby, who missed out on a wildcard for Wimbledon. Brook senior sits on the tennis sub– committee, chaired by Tim Henman, that decides on wildcards, but the All England Club will not disclose whether their chairman removed himself from the debate when Clarke’s credentials were discussed.