"Why do we have to compare women to men tho?" Tell that to the reporter that asked the question, not mcenroe. Its not like he came out of nowhere and randomly said "Serena williams couldn't compete with men." He was asked a question and gave his honest opinion
I agree 100%. Good Division I players would beat the Williams sisters. Now, CAN Serena beat a top 500 pro? Sure, on any given day it COULD happen. But McEnroe's larger point is that Serena wouldn't rank in the top 700 if she played on the men's tour because she would consistently get trounced by top 500 men's players. And if people disagree, then let Serena (and other women) join the men's tour and see how it goes. I suspect nobody really wants that. For the record, BTW, I think Serena is the greatest women's player of all time and it's not real close. I also think she's one of the greatest women's athletes of all time, perhaps the greatest. Why can't that be enough? Why drag Mac into a no-win argument about Serena playing men?
@@rickkimball6125 No one would want them to combine the men/women because then we’d never see the women play in the majors. 128 players for a Grand Slam. We’d be lucky to see any female player qualify, much less win one.
She didn’t simply say “Serena is a great player” she said “Serena is the greatest of all time” McEnroe simply corrected her statement. In order to be “The best ever” that means you could beat any player of anytime on any field, man or woman.
Well, it depends if you view Men and Women's tennis as the same sport. I don't think it is controversial to call Serena William's the greatest player of all time. Women and men's tennis is separate for a reason - and I would never think that calling Serena the greatest player would pit her up against Djokovic, Nadal or Federer. McEnroe is obviously right about where she's be ranked on the men's circuit - that should not be controversial - but I can certainly see why conflating men and women's tennis could be seen as belittling women's tennis and Serena regardless of intent.
@@Kraisedion Semantics, and, you're wrong. In English the phrase "greatest player of all time" implies greatest of any player regardless of gender. It's that simple. McEnroe was correct and he did not belittle anyone.
@@dr.emilschaffhausen4683 I really don't think it implies that at all, as again, Women's Tennis and Men's Tennis are separate. Granted, I can't say what was in the interviewer's mind.
@Jason Williams, actually it was the opposite, McEnroe said that Williams is the best female player of all time. And it was the reporter who started the men vs women argument, by asking McEnroe why did he have to qualify his statement with the word female, instead of saying she is the best player periodof all time period, male or female. And McEnroe's response was logical and reasonable, that she can't be considered the best overall player ever, because there are hundreds of men at any given time period who would beat her at tennis.
@@ozrenbalic6051 She (interviewer) totally avoided all the crap even though she started it / brought it up. Hate that Mac got dragged over it for being honest and sticking to it. Having said that, (although I don't know it to be true, but it may be) maybe the best words to use would have been "most accomplished"? Or like they do with Shaq by calling him the "most dominant" (because MJ is the GOAT). Maybe not the easiest to come up with in that moment though. I don't know the facts on Serena though, and don't feel like looking them up. Lol. But I know that woman is a beast of a tennis player. Props to Johnny Mac for not bending.
O, I am die hard Serena fan and I need to say this.. this is a stupid conversation. John McEnroe wasn't wrong. I know that he adores Serena so I am not worried. Next!!
+Tyron Harris 1 point do not compare others with yourself (using other people's clothes on your body, may fit your body but not match your criteria), because everyone is created differently. Men are different from women, comparing 2 people of different sex is an absolute mistake.
You are correct! This guy is killing me with his great love for Serena and thinking of her as the one that got away . 😆 But, he would have sucked in the Russell era and the current NBA. Baaaahahaha!
My dad was ranked 498 in the world for mens tennis back in the 80's. And he says that even in now in his 50's he could beat any woman on the circuit lmao. But he still loves Serena and woman's tennis
shiiiit......i believe your dad. if i had to put money on it, it be on your dad. he beat her using a badminton racquet. serena played the 203rd ranked men's tennis player and lost 7-0.
@@GEM4sta have you seen serena play a male tennis player. she got destroyed. unless you are talking about serena in her prime playing a 50-60 year old man then maybe she has a chance. if both in their prime then, "hell no!" she has zero chance. that's not taking away anything from serena from her playing other females but her against a male............RU-vid that and educate yourself. the male players serve is so fast, she couldn't even return it some of the times.
@@popoju9 she got destroyed by a guy ranked 203. He was 31 and she was 17 or 18. A guy who barely cracked the top 500 40 years ago could not beat her now. He’d be 65 years old probably lol. That’s not to say that she would fare well against most men, but there are still levels to this. A 65 year old couldn’t even run the baseline.
TCIASC literally every social advancement in the political spectrum is thanks to liberals. Conservatives...still fighting progression since the dawn of time.
People go crazy because they hear 700. Why? Because they only see the top 20 on TV and only actually hear about the top 5 therefore rank 700 must be absolute garbage. Oh how ignorant people are
Exactly and funny McEnroe did go on a national morning TV show Charlie and Robin......very strangle interview came to a natural end then after commercial break McEnroe made a top 5 list....Serena was number 5.
Let's use an objective measure. The 100m world record for women is FloJo's 10.49sec established in 1988. No woman has even come close to that record in some time. The most recent top time is 10.70sec by Elaine Thompson of Jamaica in the 2016 Olympics. The men's 100m world record was already 10.4 in 1921 (Charles Paddock). In fact, with a time of 10.49sec a man cannot compete in the Olympics. His time would below the qualification standard. Hence, one can estimate that the top 100m woman sprinter would probably be ranked about 700 amongst the men's 100m runners. Clearly, one cannot compare men and women athletes against each other. This doesn't in any way diminish the accomplishments of the women. In sports, one competes against one's peers and one's greatness is determined by how well one performs against one's peers. Serena, Elaine Thompson, Muhammad Ali, Babe Didrikson, Diana Taurasi, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Messi et al are all great at their sports. McEnroe is only guilty of poor judgment. He probably shouldn't have allowed himself to be baited into answering a question that would only get the Twitterverse working in overdrive.
For kicks I looked up the top track and field marks for women in 2016 and cross referenced them with the top male juniors in the world. You have to go down to 13-14 year old boys to find a range that the very best women are competitive with. I imagine that would correlate with other sports as well.
But we do have an idea regarding Annika Sorenstam against men. Annika played in the PGA Tour event during the 2003 season at the Bank of America Colonial tournament. During this time we need to remember that Annika was on her “A” game and completely dominating the LPGA where she was basically winning about 40 to 50 of the tournaments she played in. She played the tournament via a sponsors exemption and it was chosen by Annika due to it being one of the shortest courses on the PGA tour that year. Annika played reasonably well, however she missed the cut by 4 strokes. After the tournament Annika didn’t want to play in future PGA events due to how much the week was strenuous for her. Annika knew she wouldn’t be able to make a living playing PGA tour events and that destroying the competition on the LPGA would be much more lucrative.
Nails it! NPR interviewer should be in the headlines and getting grilled. McEnroe should have just said: "Pass. What does comparing Serena with men have to do with anything. She's great. Period." Good Job, Rapaport.
McEnroe was not out to compare men vs. women. It was the reporter that baited him into making the comparison when she challenged Mac to claim that Serena was the greatest player ever, without the caveat of women's greatest player ever.
Macenro was asked whether Serena was the best tennis player of all time and he gave his honest opinion.... probably pretty accurate aswell.... Serena even admitted herself that she would get dominated in the men's circuit....
Lol - Rapppppaport is funny and speaks Truth !!! Lol too that Dan gettin the NY way of conveying our thoughts as “ upset “ Great clip !! And 4 greats ( M Rappp, Dan , Serena, and Johnny MAC )
The unspoken misrepresentation is simply this... It is not Men's NBA, it is not Men's NFL, it is not Men's MLB, it is not Men's PGA tour ... ALL athletes are allowed to compete in the highest level of all of these sports... And in the case of hockey, maybe golf, women have competed and fall way short of making the teams permanently(or qualifying for the tour) ... There may be WNBA players that can shoot a higher percentage than many NBA players... Certain skills that might be better than some NBA players....But not if you put an NBA defensive player in front of her. I seriously doubt there is ANYTHING preventing a woman from trying to qualify in the "Men's" tournaments. The only restrictions are for men NOT playing in the women's sports. And it is valid.
Mcenroe was asked about serena by a female radio host i beleive....he said serena is the greatest female tennis player...the host then said why female why isnt she the greatest tennis player period....then mcenroe checked her with facts and now everybody is acting like he attacked serena or why are we comparing men to women when in fact all of this controversy was created by a women in the first place smh
Idk about this Dan Patrick guy. "why compare men and women?" then he says "why let it bother you." Sounds like he just tries to keep ppl on the defensive.
Why does this debate get raised in tennis? Because there is a huge push towards equal pay in tennis which is not the case in other sports. Tennis is unique in many respects. The womens championship and the mens championship take place at the same time in the same location. This drives direct comparisons also. I am just laying out a few of a multitude of reasons why the debate is often raised in tennis.
McEnroe made the point that this isn't even a topic of debate in other sports, and for good reason. With top women's soccer teams they don't even play friendlies against men's teams. It wouldn't be of any benefit to the men's teams and the final lopsided results would be very ugly. Seven years ago the Swedish women's national team played against an under 17 boys team, handicapped with only 10 players, the player pulled being a defender, and they still lost 3-0: www.thelocal.se/20130116/45646
Dan is so dumb, Annika missed the cut at the 2003 men's PGA Colonial Ft Worth golf tourney by 4 strokes! That was one of the most profound impact to MENS golf (with the notable exception of Tiger Woods) in the past 50 years. Just take a look at the top 10 ranked golfers in 2003 vs today. The 2003 top ten were top heavy (pun intended) overweight pudgy golfers. Today, they are much more fit and in shape. Tiger had the most impact, but the fact that a very great women's golfer came closer to making the cut was also a reason.
There should never have been any controversy. McEnroe praised Serena Willaims as the best women's tennis player in the world. Apparently, the interviewer didn't know that men's and women's tennis are different so she asked why he couldn't just say she was the best tennis player in the world. Well, he couldn't say that because it isn't true. Serena Willaims said the same thing on David Letterman. Men's and women's sports are separate for a reason.
Serena is brought into this conversation bc she is that good. Realistically there's no chance she wins. Doesn't take anything away that she is very good at tennis.
Dan has lost it. If women want to be looked at as equals in the physical realm then we have to compare them. It would be masogenistic if we didnt. Mikey is spot on.
A tennis comparison between men and women is bad because they are physically going at each other with hitting and returning the the ball. Golf would be a better comparison. Even though it's a competition, both individuals are playing the course to determine to winner. Strength and speed against each other isn't as much of a factor.
@@seanswinton6242 women can beat men at billiards. Maybe ping pong as well because there isn’t as much ground to cover but men having more testosterone and different bone structures are scientific fact. When womens rights groups trying to force the equality argument in sports, it’s makes them a joke
Ive seen about 5 videos of this argument today and everyone of them has the guy spouting out "oh i love Serena but..."..no you dont. Its laughable they are just covering their asses before they say what has to be said. If you dont like her, if you dont think shes the best ever ..then say so.
We shouldn't be comparing men to women in sports, because it minimizes female athletes, however McEnroe was asked if Serena was the best tennis player ever.
The idea that she would have at any point ranked 700 when there's over 2000 pro men's players is a joke. As dominant as she was against the women there's no way she's beating the worst of the worst men's pros. He was being way too kind with that statement
Actually I get the feeling McEnroe said 700 to be polite, he could be beaten by a lot more male pros than that. And I dont want to understimate Serena, he is incredibly strong for a woman, she hits hard and has great technique but she doesnt have the pace to compete against 99% of male pro tennis players. Actually I get the feeling most male college players would rank in the top 50 if they were female. I mean, women play to the best of 3, men wouldnt even break a sweat.
John was being kind. Go look at matches on youtube that the 900th ranked man plays. He would absolutely whip Serena. Serena is the best women’s player is a more than enough statement to make.
Why should he apologize? Why would the interviewer ask "Why did you say female?" Then they bring him back on, grill him and ask him to apologize. "NO." I wouldn't apologize either. If what's her name had NOT asked her feminist question about why he said female. We wouldn't be talking about it all. Maybe "she" should apologize for being woke? He did the right thing. NO APOLOGIES!! Too many people are apologizing about nothing. She lost against a man ranked 203rd... It doesn't mean she is not the greatest "female" player in the world. What's her face never should have asked her feminist question in the first place if she didn't want to know the answer? Dan needs to just agree and be quiet.
Was not Top 20 in my conference running 100M D1. I would have been Top 5 in the country as a female. Track is so objective, it is too easy. There are so many amazing women athletes that would wreck me. But, going from tennis to track makes it quite clear, at least in college
The comparison is made because women are asking to be paid the same as the men in sports. Accept what the revenue can afford or get on the same field, court, pitch, etc versus the men.
Hey, Dan. As soon as the Women's Pro Tennis players start playing best of 5 to win a match, then come talk to me. Why can't their matches be best of 5, too hard for them????
I played a friend of my friends daughter who was really good I totally crushed her and when I told my friends daughter she didn’t believe me until she checked . It wasn’t even close. Men are just to strong on any court for a woman to beat . Chris everts coach was like a 5.0 or 5.5 player which is still good but if he tried to play on the tour he wouldn’t win a game and probably very few points, he has played Chris who was either 1 or 2 in the world at the time. Those two would play and Chris would get absolutely annihilated.
Do pound for pound rankings for Tennis. In boxing, Sugar Ray is virtually considered the greatest. But could a 146 pound or 160 pound Ray beat a 250 pound George Foreman? Michael Rapport should being up the obvious
See my earlier post: Let's use an objective measure. The 100m world record for women is FloJo's 10.49sec established in 1988. No woman has even come close to that record in some time. The most recent top time is 10.70sec by Elaine Thompson of Jamaica in the 2016 Olympics. The men's 100m world record was already 10.4 in 1921 (Charles Paddock). In fact, with a time of 10.49sec a man cannot compete in the Olympics. His time would below the qualification standard. Hence, one can estimate that the top 100m woman sprinter would probably be ranked about 700 amongst the men's 100m runners. Clearly, one cannot compare men and women athletes against each other. This doesn't in any way diminish the accomplishments of the women. In sports, one competes against one's peers and one's greatness is determined by how well one performs against one's peers. Serena, Elaine Thompson, Muhammad Ali, Babe Didrikson, Diana Taurasi, Tom Brady, LeBron James, Messi et al are all great at their sports. McEnroe is only guilty of poor judgment. He probably shouldn't have allowed himself to be baited into answering a question that would only get the Twitterverse working in overdrive.
