John McEnroe says this 5-foot-2 Egyptian dude would be an even match for tennis superstar Serena Williams
Published: June 28, two thousand seventeen 9:08 a.m. ET
The best female tennis player of all time would be the No. 700–ranked man, McEnroe says
StevenKutz
While being interviewed on the radio over the weekend, former tennis fine John McEnroe said Serena Williams, widely considered the best female tennis player of all time, would be ranked No. Seven hundred if she were on the men’s tour.
Headlines and tweets have been volleyed back and forward since.
McEnroe’s controversial statement raises a question: Who is the No. 700–ranked man in the world? Issam Haitham Taweel. There’s “no bio available” for him on the official ATP World Tour website, but according to Wikipedia he is a 27-year-old Egyptian who commenced playing tennis at the age of 13. Also, he stands just 5-foot-2.
Taweel has had slightly less success than Williams. He has earned $Trio,528 so far in singles in 2017, while Williams has made $Two.7 million this year (winning the Australian Open helped). Taweel has racked up $53,000 in career winnings, while Williams has made $84.Five million — not including endorsements.
While speaking with David Letterman four years ago, Williams said she would lose badly to a top five masculine player.
Serena Williams to David Letterman in 2013: “Andy Murray Would Strike Me 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes” https://t.co/NPFmbdC817
But beyond telling how the top few women would do against the top few studs, comparing masculine and female athletes is complicated and fraught. And, to be fair to McEnroe, he said Williams was “the best female player ever — no question.” But the interviewer asked him why he didn’t call Williams simply the best tennis player ever. “Why say female player?” the interviewer asked him. To which he replied, “Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit, she’d be like seven hundred in the world.”
Williams was not blessed about what McEnroe had said.
Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based.
I’ve never played anyone ranked “there” nor do I have time. Respect me and my privacy as I’m attempting to have a baby. Good day master
The most famous “battle of the sexes” took place in 1973, when 55-year-old Bobby Riggs, a former men’s Wimbledon champ, played 29-year-old women’s tennis pro Billie Jean King. Before the match, Riggs made several misogynistic comments, including that “the best way to treat women is to keep them pregnant and barefoot.” In front of 30,000 fans at the Houston Astrodome, King strike him 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
Williams, 35, is pregnant and due in the fall, so she is not presently playing on the tour. But when she won the Australian Open in January — in the early stages of her pregnancy — it was her 23rd Grand Tuck singles title. That’s more than anyone in the open era, which began in one thousand nine hundred sixty eight and marked the very first time that both professionals and amateurs could contest for titles. Steffi Graf has 22. On the men’s side, Roger Federer has the most, with Legitimate.
Williams is the only woman in Forbes’s recently released one hundred highest-paid athletes list. She made $27 million in two thousand sixteen — $8 million in tennis winnings and $Nineteen million from endorsements.
As far as McEnroe is worried, he isn’t telling he could hammer Williams. On Tuesday’s “CBS This Morning,” discussing the controversy, he said he would rank himself No. 1,200 on today’s men’s tour.