John McEnroe in hot water after perceived misogyny for blaming Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova for late Australian Open finish

Wednesday, 24 January 2024 at 11:00

John McEnroe was left in hot water after slamming Aryna Sabalenka and Barbora Krejcikova for the late finish at the 2024 Australian Open and suggesting that they should've moved their clash to Margaret Court Arena like what was mooted.

The night session on Rod Laver Arena was heavily delayed due to long matches involving Novak Djokovic and Coco Gauff. It also wasn't helped by a legends doubles match being pencilled on the same court beforehand. As a result, Aryna Sabalenka had to play after 8pm with criticism also about Nick Kyrgios doing an on court interview with Novak Djokovic when they were heavily delayed anyway.

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Both Sabalenka and Krejcikova denied potentially switching to the second arena and McEnroe debated with Barbara Schett about how it could be avoided. The latter questioned placing a legends doubles match on the main court, while McEnroe himself said the Women's match was a problem despite most pointing out that both are Grand Slam champions which Sinner and Rublev are not and that they were thrown under the bus due to poor scheduling by the tournament.

There was also discourse during the Djokovic-Fritz game that they wanted it in prime time and failed in their mission which put everything else back anyway and led to McEnroe getting heavy criticism and being seen as misogynistic for blaming Sabalenka and Krejcikova.

"Just another day of blatant misogyny in the tennis world," they wrote. "Why should defending champion and #2 adjust, also the only player who actually got her job done in less than 1.5 hrs," another wrote.

Further users on social media chimed in with the viewpoint surrounding Sinner and Rublev. "Well of course John is blaming the women. The women were playing first, if any match should’ve been moved it should’ve been Jannik and Andrey. But ultimately, the legends dubs should’ve NEVER been scheduled for Rod Laver by the organizers."

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Scheduling debate on Eurosport is a wild one! Barbara Schett is blaming the legends doubles and John McEnroe is blaming Sabalenka and Krejčíková for not switching to Margret Court when offered. No-one looking at the organisers...

10:32 AM · Jan 23, 2024

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