(VIDEO) BBC commentator bizarrely hits back at Carlos Alcaraz in rant surrounding name pronunciation
ATPFriday, 21 June 2024 at 16:11
BBC tennis commentator Andrew Castle was under fire after he hit back at Carlos Alcaraz surrounding how supposedly the Spaniard supposedly wanted his name calling out during his defeat to Jack Draper at Queen's.
Draper went on to win 7-6, 6-3 against the Roland Garros and Wimbledon champion, but between points Alcaraz made it known that he was not happy with how his name wasn't being pronounced the Spanish way. This saw Castle go into a tirade. He referred to Alcaraz as 'Al-ca-raz' as in how it is is spelt as opposed to 'Al-ca-rath' which is the correct pronunciation. This left the 21-year-old frustrated before hew as defeated by Draper.
Castle being made aware of the complaints went on to say: “Is he (Alcaraz) talking about how he wants his name said? No… if you go on the pronunciation, by the way if anyone’s getting all wound up because we’re saying ‘Al-car-az’ or ‘Al-ca-rath’, here’s the thing: His name is ‘Al-ca-rath but if you go on the pronunciation on the ATP’s website it’s ‘Al-ca-raz’.
“But everyone gets annoyed saying it and if we are going to have to go down that road we are going to have to refer to Bjorn Borg as Bjorn ‘Boyn’, and that’s not going to happen.
“All day long we could worry about these… I mean how would you say the bloke in the third match? Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. I suspect there is one or two different ways to say that… we will call him (Alcaraz) the Spaniard.”
It wasn't the only thing that irked Alcaraz with the shot clock rules that were trialled at Queen's also irking the Spaniard somewhat. He called the 25-second-clock starting three seconds after the previous point crazy. Wrapped in also with being defeated, it certainly wasn't the ideal scenario for the Spaniard.
Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief
Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.
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