John McEnroe left the BBC commentary booth during a Wimbledon match.
John McEnroe was in charge of media operations for the BBC at Wimbledon (Image: BBC)
John McEnroe was forced to resign from his position as a BBC commentator during Arthur Fehry’s match against Grigor Dimitrov at Wimbledon. The American was with Andrew Cotter and Tim Henman in the BBC commentary room when he had to step away from his duties.
Fery, the last British player remaining in the men’s or women’s singles, won the first set 7-5. However, his much more experienced opponent fought back and secured second place with a score of 6–3 and third place with a score of 6–4.
Fery took a long bathroom break between the second and third sets, during which McEnroe quickly left. “I think we’ll have to say goodbye at this point,” Cotter told viewers. “John McEnroe should take a break and never come back.”
McEnroe responded, “Well, hopefully I’ll be back, but I have a contractual obligation to beat the only American in the draw, Taylor Fritz.”
John McEnroe left his role at the BBC midway through Arthur Fehry’s match (Image: BBC)
McEnroe said of Fritz: “He’s probably a slight favorite to reach the final this half. I am sure that (Alexander) Bublik, (Alexander) Zverev and others can have their say on this matter. You guys think the rest of the match is going to be great.”
Ninth seed Linda Noskova had just defeated Madison Keys 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the second match of the day on Court 1, and Flavio Cobolli had a straight sets win of his own over Alex de Minaur to start the day’s exhibition play on Court. This meant that Fritz had to start his meeting with Bagel earlier than he might have expected.
Speaking after his third round win over Lorenzo Sonego, the sixth seed admitted he faces a difficult match. Even before figuring out who would be on the other side of the net: Bagel or Francis Tiafoe, Fritz wasn’t getting ahead of himself.
Arthur Fery battled Grigor Dimitrov on center court (Image: Getty)
“I don’t really have a preference between the two,” the 28-year-old said. “Both are very skilled. Good grass players play well. In shape.
“I have good material because I’ve played both of them this season on grass. No preference. But both are very, very dangerous players. It’s not an easy round of 16.”
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