Tennis star Patrick McEnroe, 59, has suggested he could beat Aryna Sabalenka and that the top-ranked boys’ junior would destroy the world No 1.
Sabalenka has established herself as the best player in women’s tennis, having won four Grand Slam titles since 2023.
The Belarusian last year lost to Nick Kyrgios in a ‘Battle of the Sexes’ exhibition match. In an event that was widely panned, Kyrgios secured a 6-3 6-3 win in Dubai.
Now McEnroe – the brother of John McEnroe and a former US Davis Cup captain who now serves as an ESPN commentator – was asked how he would fare against the world No 1 if they played now.
His older brother is known for stirring controversy but Patrick McEnroe – who had a career-high singles ranking of 28 and is now president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame – is making headlines of his own.
On a radio phone-in on Sirius XM, the 59-year-old tried to swerve the question by asking the caller what would happen if the best 15-year-old boys in high school basketball faced the top WNBA team.
Patrick McEnroe, 59, has suggested he could beat Aryna Sabalenka and that the top-ranked boys’ junior would destroy the world No 1
Sabalenka, a four-time Grand Slam champion, has established herself as the world’s best
The 59-year-old is the brother of John McEnroe and now serves as an ESPN commentator
‘They beat them, easily,’ the caller replied, to which McEnroe said: ‘Ok, thank you for the call…’
He then let out a laugh before explaining: ‘I don’t want to get into it… it doesn’t matter to me because it’s just a different game.’
McEnroe later claimed he was not trying to ‘denigrate’ women’s tennis but said Sabalenka would be overwhelmed by a top boys’ player.
‘The short answer is that I was a decent pro as a journeyman-type player, ranked most of my career between 30, 75, 100, whatever it was,’ he said.
‘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 or something.
‘But again to me it’s irrelevant. I don’t say that to denigrate women’s [tennis], I love women’s tennis. I’ll watch that if there’s a great matchup more than I’ll watch a men’s blowout match. It’s just a totally different game.
‘And tennis, for some reason, people don’t look at it the same way because they see Madison Keys or Sabalenka hit their forehand as hard as [Jannik] Sinner. Well, they’re not hitting it with the same spin and the movement’s different.’
