John McEnroe can’t catch a breath at all. Especially when it comes to his commentary during slams, the moment he speaks a word, it tends to land him in hot water. Remember when his commentating duties during Wimbledon drew flak from The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins? So much so that she urged him to “break the McEnroe grip on tennis microphones,” and now that the American hard court slam approaches its final phase, the 7-time slam champion has come under scrutiny once again.

As if making remarks about Novak Djokovic’s career wasn’t enough, he has invited himself some more trouble with comments on Amanda Anisimova and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka. The two are set to clash in the awaited US Open final in New York this weekend. Just several hours ago, McEnroe made some problematic remarks on 24-time slam king Djokovic after his big loss against Carlos Alcaraz. This time, though, it’s about what he just said regarding the playing style of Anisimova and her final opponent Sabalenka.

Renowned journalist Ben Rothenberg revealed in a post on X, dated September 6, that McEnroe thinks Anisimova and Sabalenka “play similar games”. In short, he meant to imply they are identical in their on-court tactics and overall hitting style. Seems like Rothenberg himself didn’t align with the former ATP icon. He simply refused to “agree with John McEnroe’s assessment” on looking at the American and the three-time slam winner with the same lens.

In the case of Alcaraz vs Djokovic, the Spaniard beat him in straight sets to book himself a ticket to the summit clash against archrival Sinner. During the semifinal, McEnroe made it seem like this might be Djokovic’s last slam. Of course, it didn’t sit well with fans, who are now calling him out again.

But guess what? Even ardent tennis lovers agree with Ben’s take on McEnroe. On the other hand, the latter is now receiving heavy criticism for his remarks. People believe he’s hardly got much knowledge of the WTA landscape, let alone the players’ styles. So what has been the growing sentiment on social media?

Fans grill John McEnroe over Amanda Anisimova and Sabalenka

One annoyed fan simply urged the ESPN network to remove John McEnroe from its team of experts. “ESPN needs to move on. They mistakenly claim that ratings are you bc of their talent. The reality is that they have a monopoly on the tournament and they don’t ask how many ppl mute the McEnroe brothers bc they’re lazy in their analysis + don’t add anything insightful or new.” 

For the uninitiated, McEnroe may have hung up his racket a long time ago, but he still continues to pocket big fortunes. Being a huge name among the commentators for prominent events, he annually makes close to $10 million from his expert analysis. However, currently, it appears tennis lovers don’t think likewise.

Raising a question mark about his expertise, one fan wrote, “He barely knows who they are” while referring to Amanda Anisimova and Sabalenka. Another individual echoed this sentiment asking, “Has he watched them serve?” Another person cited, “Mcenroe chats s— he predicted that anisimova would beat iga in Wimbledon final talk about egg on your face”, referring the Wimbledon final where it was Iga who actually beat Anisimova (in 57 minutes with a double bagel) contrary to McEnroe’s early prediction.

Meanwhile, one person simply wondered, “Why would he say that,” realizing McEnroe’s already facing heat for his remarks on Djokovic. Interestingly, he faced a similar situation for his comments about the Serbian during Wimbledon. After Sinner bested the 38-year-old in the semis, McEnroe said, “He’s seeing a mirror image of himself from the past. Djokovic is feeling a pressure to do something he doesn’t normally have to do, which is take more risks. With Sinner it’s a different story.” He further added, “There’s probably five things going on his mind. One is how do I get myself in this match? How do I use the crowd to my advantage? What can I do differently? Has my time passed? You get some evil thoughts in your head, even him.”

Now that the finals are around the corner, the only thing fans won’t wish for is McEnroe making another problematic statement. But will he hold his breath? Only time will tell.

Don’t forget to follow our live US Open blog to stay up-to-date with all the on-court action from New York. Talking about controversies, we caught up with the tennis world’s king of controversies off the court for a candid chat. See for yourself: