Countless interactions and interviews have taken place on the grass court of Wimbledon this year. And those interactions and interviews have resulted in more and more controversies. One such incident that took place was between Clare Balding and John McEnroe. During an interview for the BBC, John McEnroe used slang to define the old players in Wimbledon and tennis overall.
Not sure if the audience and the listeners might take offense to it, Clare Balding took this opportunity to apologize immediately on his behalf, “just in case” anybody was offended.
Clare Balding apologizes on behalf of John McEnroe on live interview
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Wimbledon presenter Clare Balding was left red-faced during a live broadcast when John McEnroe used the word ‘old farts’ to describe his fellow players who have now grown old and do not play tennis anymore. The awkward moment occurred during a live Wimbledon broadcast on the BBC.
During the interview with the BBC, John McEnroe was talking about how things have changed for the players now and they have much more amenities to keep them level-headed before, during, and after the game. The facilities they were talking about were coaches, physios, backroom staff, and much more.
Owing to the same, John said, “I think that times are a lot different and players have a better understanding of the team around them and what it takes to maximize your performance. Even us old… farts would love to reach our true potential.” His comment was to recognize that if the old players also had some facilities, they would reach their true potential.
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However, right after this comment was made, Balding looked towards the camera and said, “Old farts. Yes. If you heard that word, I apologize.” The interaction did not end here. Further, John asked if they were not allowed to use that phrase or if something was wrong in using the phrase.
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To this, Balding replied that it was okay to use the word, but she apologized just in case somebody took offense to it. Well, to the hardcore tennis fans, this is not the first time Balding had to tell off John for his inappropriate comment. He has done that earlier as well.
Balding interrupted McEnroe for a ‘swingers’ comment related to Ons Jabeur
This happened during the match between Ons Jabeur and Petra Kvitova. Ons won the match against Petra. But before her match, Ons was seen analyzing the weather and understanding if it would rain or not. Owing to the same, Blading said that Ons was looking for rain in the sky, but it would not rain. However, there is some overcast. If it was a cricket match, there would be a bit of a swing on the ball.
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Before anyone could say anything about this, John said that swingers are the ones who don’t throw it as hard in cricket. He further added that definitions of swingers was different in the States. To which, Balding, in order to avoid any offense, said, this is not the kind of channel where John should be making such comments.
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