Patrick McEnroe says top 17-year-old boys could beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-1, 6-1
The parallels between men’s and women’s tennis will always be drawn.
It is clear that men’s tennis often dominates and that there are significant differences between men’s and women’s tennis, as discussed by numerous experts, fans, and ordinary people.
It is not difficult to notice that there are differences between female and male tennis players, which are based on human genetics.
Nevertheless, it is evident that work is being done to popularize women’s tennis and that it has seen significant growth in recent years. This sparks positive reactions among fans, who enjoy the matches of popular tennis players such as Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and many others.
However, former tennis player Patrick McEnroe’s latest statement sparked an avalanche of reactions on social media, especially among fans of women’s tennis.
During his radio show Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe, Patrick was asked whether he could beat the current top female tennis player in the world. He didn’t give a straight answer, but instead drew a parallel between a team of 15-year-old boys and a WNBA team.
“What would happen if … the best 15-year-old boys played against the top WNBA team?” McEnroe asked the caller. “They’d beat them, easily,” the caller replied.
“It doesn’t matter to me because it’s just a different game. The short answer is that I was a decent pro as a journeyman type player, ranked most of my career between 30 and 75, 100, whatever it was. But if you took the top junior player in the world, the top 17-year-old and put him up against Sabalenka, they beat her 6-1, 6-1.”
McEnroe explains his views
McEnroe emphasized that he did not want to criticize or belittle women’s tennis, but rather to point out that the differences between men’s and women’s tennis are large. In his opinion, they are two different sports.
He also noted that tennis players like Jannik Sinner and others have stronger shots and certain physical advantages, but this does not mean that women’s tennis is not important or attractive.