Renowned tennis journalist Jon Wertheim has landed himself in hot waters. Well, Wertheim recently made some bizarre comments during the Tennis Channel’s preview for Barbora Krejcikova’s SF against Qinwen Zheng in the season-ending tournament in Riyadh. The journalist was unaware that he was live on air. In a clip shared, he was heard saying, “Who do you think I am? Barbora Krejcikova? Look at the forehead when Krejcikova and Zheng take the court. Eighthead.” The very next day, Krejcikova hit out at ‘unprofessional’ US commentary over her appearance. Now, Wertheim has issued apologies not only to the 2024 Wimbledon champion but also to tennis!

On November 10th, Wertheim apologized for the comments in a post on X, “I realize: I am not the victim here. It was neither professional nor charitable nor reflective of the person I strive to be. I am accountable. I own this. I am sorry.” Jon wasn’t done yet!

Wertheim is also a major contributor to Andy Roddick’s hugely popular podcast, ‘Served.’ Roddick trying to cover his buddy and media colleague Jon Wertheim with an emergency podcast, started his show with “Our good friend, my co-host, my partner-in-crime Jon Wertheim said something on a hot mic. No one was aware they were on a hot mic. I know he is as a person. I also know he stepped in sh-t. I said we have to come on and acknowledge it, even when it’s not comfortable.” Then, Wertheim issued an apology in front of Roddick, saying,

“Really wish we were talking about tennis, but I appreciate it you put it nicely. I mean look if we are going to be transparent and hold people accountable and call people out for acting like jackasses when one of us acts like a jackass and in this case that would be me…I’m full of regret, remorse, and an apology.” He further added, “In some level, you’d like to think about body of work matters. You don’t get defined by your worst act but you know like you said, I stepped in it, I made a very uncharitable remark. Meant as self-deprecation, but it involved the photo of another player, it was Barbora Krejčíková.”

During the same conversation, Wertheim once again revealed Jon stated he apologised straight away to Krejcikova (Friday). He said that he knows her agent pretty well and all he now hopes is to sit down with Barbora Krejčíková and issue an apology to her in person. “She doesn’t need this shit,” further added Jon. Soon after, he extended a heartfelt sorry to both Roddick and Tennis, all while praising Barbora.

“Honestly, she won Wimbledon. She had a great season. She just finished up a nice tournament in Riyadh. She doesn’t need to pick up her phone and hear about some jackass broadcaster on a hot mic. I feel bad, I apologize to you (Andy Roddick) when you and I’ve built something special here and I wish we were talking about Riyadh and Turin,” said Wertheim. “I feel bad and I apologize to tennis…”

After this thing went viral, we saw WTA releasing a statement condemning the whole incident. he network also apologized to the player, Barbora Krejčíková, as did Jon. That said, Tennis Channel holds its employees to a standard of respectfulness for others at all times, a standard that was not met in this moment,”they wrote in a statement. Then later on, even the Tennis Channel announced that they had suspended Jon Wertheim from the network “indefinitely.” What did Barbora Krejčíková say on this whole incident, though?

“These moments distract” – Barbora Krejčíková addresses Jon Wertheim’s comment

Barbora Krejčíková stunned the whole world by winning the Wimbledon Championships this year. Then later on, even at the WTA Finals, no one expected her to reach the SF, but she did it successfully by beating the likes of Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula in the group stages. Amid all these stellar performances, little did she imagine that she’d running the headlines for a bizarre comment by a renowned tennis journalist about her physical appearance. On Saturday, she penned down a long note addressing this controversial incident on X.

Barbora Krejčíková wrote, “You might have heard about the recent comments made on Tennis Channel during the WTA Finals coverage that focused on my appearance rather than my performance. As an athlete who has dedicated herself to this sport, it was disappointing to see this type of unprofessional commentary.” She further claimed that she had been silent about these types of issues in the past and didn’t want to do the same once again.

Krejcikova felt it was time for her to speak up and address the need for respect and professionalism in sports media. The 28-year-old Czech superstar further added, “These moments distract from the true essence of sport and the dedication all athletes bring to the field. I love tennis deeply, and I want to see it represented in a way that honors the commitment we make to compete at this level.” Well, as they say, ‘All is well that ends well’.