John McEnroe comes underneath fireplace at US Open for repeating Wimbledon controversy

John McEnroe has upset tennis followers as soon as extra by enjoying down the importance of considered one of Carlos Alcaraz’ opponents on the US Open. The No. 1 seed confronted Italian Matteo Arnaldi within the Round of 16, whom the Spaniard was capable of overcome in straight units 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

Currently ranked because the world No. 61, Arnaldi will enter the highest 50 for the primary time in his profession on the finish of the Grand Slam occasion. But that did not cease McEnroe, who missed the beginning of the match with Coronavirus, from referring to the 22-year-old throughout his match with Alcaraz as “a complete unknown”.

The remark shortly drew criticism from observers on social media. @TickTockTennis wrote on X: “Ah, good. JMac is back from his COVID break. But, don’t worry, he didn’t use that time to do any research. Just referred to Arnaldi as “a whole unknown.”

“Matteo Arnaldi is #61 on the planet with wins over Jiri Lehecka, Cam Norrie, and Casper Ruud this yr.”

@david_ftlaudy added: “It was so good throughout week 1 to not have him round. He provides nothing for me. For some motive the producers suppose we have to hear him or it’s simply not a legit mens match.”

@RMarsonet added: “Ha ha ha typical Johnny. Unless you’re a prime 10 participant, you may as properly not play tennis,” whereas @USTennisCenter wrote: “Hate how so many of those commentators know nothing about guys transitioning from Challengers and principally exterior of the highest 50.”

McEnroe is well acquainted with rubbing people up the wrong way, even long after his controversial playing career came to an end.

During Wimbledon, he obtained heavy criticism for incomes greater than £100,000 per week for his BBC punditry on the All England Club match, raking in significantly greater than Martina Navratilova did in a similar broadcasting role.

During the two weeks at SW19, he made a comment along the same lines as Arnaldi about 25th seed Nicolas Jerry who was also matched up against Alcaraz. McEnroe said: “We don’t know Jarry however we’ll get to know him.”

The remark drew disapproval from Australian tennis participant John Millman, who Tweeted: “How a commentator can say “we don’t know Jarry but we’ll get to know him” is past ridiculous. 87 million folks play tennis worldwide and this man is the twenty eighth finest at it presently.”

McEnroe is not likely to be overly concerned by the criticism he has received, however. The outspoken star has never been left wanting for a contentious comment and seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

The 64-year-old once claimed that 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams would “be like 700 on the planet” if she played on the men’s tennis tour, although the American did attempt to balance his comment by saying that she was the “biggest ladies’s participant in historical past”.