Namath on McEnroe vs Williams: I'm a Serena fan, but won't argue with John

NFL Hall of Famer Joe Namath on tennis great John McEnroe's ranking comments on Serena Williams.

[@EgbertWilliams]

McEnroe was legitimately stunned by her stupid, ignorant question and gave an honest, maybe even too kind, answer. Where's the controversy?

[@orlandovelez5412]

This is the postmodern feminist LUNACY! Today's women are nauseatingly thin-skinned and take offense at ANYthing! The narcissism exhibited by these 'I-am-woman-hear-me-roar' MORONS reeks! McEnroe answered a point-blank question put to him in a diplomatic, TRUTHFUL, forthright manner ... and EVERYbody is making a STINK about it?!? What a Bizarro-World we live in!!!

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

She wanted to double up on her position when Mac gave her an unexpected answer with selective outrage. Couldn't handle the truth or reality when set straight by an expert in his field. He made her reveal her ignorance and bias. Couldn't admit that she was wrong.

[@animus3328]

What is wrong with McEnroe's answer..i don't get it...if she can beat Federer..well she would be the best....

[@kingtrawal]

omg, that would be an obliteration....

[@jamesfeldman4234]

John McEnroe is just doing what he's done all his life: telling it like he sees it. People should respect and welcome his honesty, not try to silence it.

[@hkpo20]

and can we remind everyone he's actually a tennis expert? If you use him as a source of information don't be upset when you get an accurate response. It's his job!

[@johnsradios484]

But McEnroe is correct . He should know , if she is the best player in the world let her play the men .

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

She can play the men. She wisely chooses not to!

[@wornoutshoes11]

That interviewer should be ashamed of herself... Baited mcenroe into answering her question... and john spoke the truth.. How in hell would serena be the best player in the world or ever in the first place? Its not the same if u talk about the mens circuit... Feminism is a disease. The world has change... The culture has change and females has been accepted as equal to men no doubt but to insist women are better than men? In a sport? As an athlete? Cmon now.. that interviewer needs a rude awakening or a DDT.

[@jaimhaas5170]

The real surprise to me was that Serena threw John under the bus when asked about this. She should have agreed with him or even SUPPORTED him. She fell back into the old I'm a victim mentality instead. Very disappointed in HER not John.

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

Serena was not directly involved in the conversation!

[@jaimhaas5170]

@@MelvinLew-q4q She was interviewed about it. And the comments she made were pathetic as I pointed out above.

[@pauljackson2409]

Female tennis players would be wise to keep their mouths shut on how they stack up against the men. They are already paid far more than they are worth. If we had separate tournaments for men's and women's tennis, the women's tournament would be like women's soccer or women's basketball and bring in a fraction in ticket sales and broadcast rights, compared to the men's game and female tennis players would be paid much less than the men. Women's tennis right now is a parasite on the men's game.

[@craigk621]

not sure about that to be honest. I think the ONLY reason women are paid the same prize money as men is that they are a draw in their own right. Often a women's game will be as interesting to watch as the men's. Women could not argue for equal pay in tennis based on a meritocracy and that's really what John MAY be alluding to and I think THAT'S the interesting point.

[@pauljackson2409]

@craigk621 The objective facts show that you are wrong. The ticket price for the men's final at Wimbledon is about £4,000 while for the women's it's about £1,000 and TV viewing figures are about 3 to 1 respectively. So the women's game draws a fraction of the revenue and viewership that the men's game does. If pay were based on merit women's prize money would be 1/3 at most of that of the men and if the women and men were to compete directly, the women would get no prize money at all.

[@craigk621]

+Paul Jackson I think the meritocracy in tennis is determined by sponsorship / advertising revenue not prize money. I don't know where you get the stats you quote since face value tickets for men's finals and women's finals are nowhere near those prices.

[@tigerarmyrule]

You are absolutely spot on Paul. WTA events fall off the edge when not linked to ATP ones.

[@tigerarmyrule]

and if you chekc ATP V WTA instagram, twitter facebook etc. we find the ATP numbers far in advance of the WTA.

[@magnusqwerty]

Why not let Serena play against men and see what happens?

[@josephmanno4514]

Because Serena's way too smart to do that.

[@take5DD]

John answered it wrong. Should have said, "Please give me names. When you say some, who are you referring to? Would it be you? Who says she would be the best tennis player in the world, men or women? Please, I'd like to ask these people some simple questions. So when you say" Some" I have to ask you who? Who said that?

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

?

[@twoweeledsoto6072]

Why qualify it? Because John McEnroe probably wanted to be honest and accurate. Why do you try to lie and mislead your listeners, Host? Thank God Joe Namath has kept his backbone in his later years. Many so-called men have lost theirs. Notice Varney didn't comment. RIP Varney

[@jimbarron8688]

John Mcenroe is credible and right. End of.

[@Launchmodule]

That's a great story.

[@eringemini7091]

Love Joe Namath😍😙💘❤💕!!

[@janetcopeland6678]

Serena is best FEMALE tennis Player (probably female ATHLETE) of all time. But she isn't one of the best 5000 Tennis players of all time. Every number one top 25 COLLEGE program player would beat her. Ralph Sampson was one of the best COLLEGE basketball players of all time, but not a top 100 NBA. Women's Tennis simply isn't as good as men. As with all sports. It's not complicated. If you disagree, why don't we have only ONE USTA. drop the women's and see how good the women are against the men.

[@kingtrawal]

facts

[@aravindjgd]

Stop separate competition for men and women. Stopping gender discrimination. Let people compete on merit.

[@EDTHEWATERGUY]

Serena would lose to just about any male pro tennis player.

[@kevintuohy6402]

why not use comparisons in basket ball or track and field,and why not realize the disparities r the same;Diana turasi is the mvp in wpmens prfessional basketball do u really think she could play in the nba ,what number women's sprinter could beat the top 500 men in the 100,none

[@maximilianstreinz9654]

I don't understand why this is so complicated for some people. Male athletes are stronger and faster, they have the genetical advantage. That's why they would win a direct comparison. Looking just at the technique, women can reach the same or higher levels then man at every sport. Maybe Williams is the player with the best technique of all time. I don't know. But what's really important in human is intelligence and character, to have respect for others. And now look at the behaviour of so many people...

[@Gertzy41]

I doubt Serena could have beaten Margaret in the Australian open in the 60s ! It was played in December and in Brisbane and Sydney a few times where the temperature gets to 100 plus! No night matches! No injury time outs! No night matches! No tie breakers! That's why Margaret is the greatest!!

[@kellienicolebrooksschettin6598]

Hey I'm a big fan of Martina Navratilova and I was watching flim from her match with Connors and was really giving Jim a good match she hustled like him never sits back on her ground strokes or her game on the attack the way tennis is supposed to be played,then the big mouth announcer ruin it and says she has the whole court and Jim only has the single court,plus she gets two serves and he only gets one,that's not right if your gonna shoots your big mouth off and say that equal talent exist why display a match in that fashion,I'm a teaching pro,don't insult my intelligence or John MacEnroe,I have said this before when I was growing up all people talked about when MacEnroe came up was his attitude towards the lineman and judges I missed out on how great a player he really was...that's so people focused on the negative.The problem with today is people are flakey beyond belief,they don't know anything about the real details,second they don't think about the real facts they just fast as they can spit out an answer,because that's what every one else thinks,and it ain't even true...no research no knowledge,ooh I said knowledge hope I don't get arrested for thinking.Also I am big William s sister fan they are both amazing ,and great players...and I believe they both have records that will stand for a long time...they are great athletes too.I teach tennis but played all ball sports besides extreme sport and racing,your talent is what you make it,learning and the gifts your patent gave you,and guidance...you just need to listen excutue and pay attention to what you are doing right and wrong...some people u just can't reach,so you get what you had here last week,I don't like it any more than you do,so they wants it so they gets it....

[@jaymason480]

I don't know why this is a verses Williams. Serena was ask the same question and she backed up McEnroe answer. It's all the feminist that don't know anything about sports and try to tell a person that was once rated number one in the tennis, that he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[@bocajrs7628]

Glad to see Joe looking so healthy. Roll Tide.

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

Looking good and still Broadway Joe smile!

[@philrobertson2708]

Serena stated the same on Letterman. These 'journalists'. She's a great athlete but listen to her own words

[@MrFangole]

Love John too.

[@brownro214]

Today’s liberal progressive world, tell the truth and get slammed for it. Even Serena said she couldn’t compete on the men’s tour.

[@kellienicolebrooksschettin6598]

Hey I for got one thing,you cannot be serious!!!!!!! Great book hey john wanna go to France I got 500 dollars I can loan u...hah hah,today you would get there with 5000 dollars,wow

[@dixiemay1649]

Ahhh Joe really liked doing the Panty Hose commercial. Did you secretly want to play Tennis?

[@itsaaronlolz]

I only clicked because I thought it was Anderson Cooper in the thumbnail. I hate political clickbait.

[@grsnowball]

Aaron Bear Anderson Cooper is a political talking head, and apparently was bait for you. So then, you hate Anderson Cooper?

[@AlbertWeijers]

So what experiment could we do to answer the question: what men's rank would the female no 1 be? Let the top 10 female players (1, 2, 3 ... 10) play against the men's no 11, 100, 200, 300, .... 900 (that's 10 men). I leave out the top 10 men assuming they all can beat the women's no. 1. All games man vs. woman, play each match twice. Each player get 1 point for a win. Also count the # games they won, to rank the players with equal points for won matches. Because the difference between the top female players is relatively small and the difference between the men is far greater, I would expect most of the female players would end up in a specific "gap' between the ranked men. For example 8 of the 10 female players end up in the gap between 400 and 500, then you have your answer. If McEnroe is right, they would have to end up between 600 and 800. A nice thing for McEnroe to organise!

[@TheToshark]

no they wouldn't, because with colbert he said, that for example steffi graf he would put at her prime at arround 900. So he puts Serena Williams way higher than any other female player.

[@MelvinLew-q4q]

Complete waste of time and effort... Unless it could be hyped and commercialized. Could end up marginalizing women's sports even more once the results start coming in.

[@AlbertWeijers]

@@MelvinLew-q4q Woman's sports are great! Of course men may beat them in most sports but that's irrelevant. There's a men's event and a women's event, that's twice the amount of sport, so great stuff!

[@starllama2149]

This is such a non-issue that they started talking about a tipping story from way back to fill the time lmao

[@harro9689]

Normally I would say that McEnroe's comments were uncalled for, except for the fact that Williams herself boasted that she should be thought of as not just the best female player in the world, but THE BEST TENNIS PLAYER IN THE WORLD. Maybe she needs to play Roger Federer to prove it. But for now she'll just have to be content with being the second best female player of all time until she wins those 2 extra grand slams to reach 25 and goes past the great Margaret Court.

[@Infelsinave]

Why should she play him? Why does her status as the best tennis player be qualified based on men? You think she shows up and they give her championships? She has worked just as hard as Roger, Pete, Rafa, or anyone else.

[@harro9689]

Isn't it obvious that if she is the best tennis player in the world regardless of gender AS SHE CLAIMS, then it means that she should be capable of beating anyone else in the world regardless of their gender ?

[@luket1738]

If you don't actually play tennis (competitively), then you really shouldn't have input on something that you don't understand. While Serena Williams is easily and without a doubt the best women tennis player in history, she wouldn't stand a chance against any top 500 mens player.

[@Infelsinave]

Luke T the top comment here "women are the weaker vessels" leads me to believe no matter, you people will never respect women outside of the bedroom and kitchen. Enough said.

[@harro9689]

I could ask you 'what level' or against 'what sort of competition' constitutes competitive tennis in your little opinion, but I wont bother. I'll just say good luck trying to guess which of the hundreds of commenters fit the description. There will always be doubt about Williams being the best Women's tennis player until she wins those 2 extra slams to pass Margaret Court. But I will accept your assumption that Williams couldn't beat any man inside the top 500.

[@dinogee]

He remembers the tip XD

[@dinogee]

Is what she said.

[@ravshaw3358]

dinogee I think stewey was having an orgasm......

[@rhetta9826]

He didn't need to say 700, but still let's not make a deal out of this. Yes, men's and women's abilities are generally different. That's just how it is. Nothing to be offended at.

[@akseli9]

Yes, and he didn't need to say #700 because it's wrong. She's more likely #1700.

[@sebfox2194]

Rhett A 700 is a fairly generous estimate. The top college level male players could beat Serena.