John McEnroe Says Serena Williams Would Be 'Like No. 700' Against Men | SportsNation | ESPN 

If you don't want to diminish women's accomplishments by bringing up the stone cold fact that Serena couldn't compete on the men's circuit, don't bring it up. McEnroe didn't bring it up, he just answered the NPR interviewer's question.

They don't realize John was being nice to say she would be 700, lol.

serena admitted a few years ago she's not even close to as good as the men.. this is only a story cuz it's summer and nothin on but baseball

I hate these people know nothing about tennis and try to have a conversation about it

If you read the interview, McEnroe said Serena was the greatest female tennis player of all time. And the interviewer asked him, "why not greatest tennis player of all time', and that's why McEnroe responded that way. Is Serena really beating Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka?

It's weird how people want gender equally but never want to compare men to women. The best athletes in human history have all been men. It's just a fact. Getting offended over it is dumb. She's still a great player, she just can't compare to the males since men and women aren't equal but we act like they are.

If we are going to comparing men and women in tennis.let's also compare men and women in boxing and mma yeah that sounds about right smh.

its true doe..

she wouldnt even be ranked, mcenroe is right. people just dont want to admit it

Any who knows tennis in any type of competitive sense knows this is 100% true

Dude the NPR host compared them, McEnroe was forced to answer the question. At least know what was said

No one will say it but it's true

These guys totally missed the point. McEnroe simply corrected the NPR interviewer who tried to imply Serena is the best tennis player ever. As for that idiot on the end tennis is EXACTLY the same game for men and women.

McEnroe didn't bring it up. He has nothing to prove. It's the interviewer that brought it up and kept pushing until John responded.

McEnroe a savage for this

"I don't know if Serena would be a top player against male players." That is the dumbest comment I've ever heard. You can make the argument the conversation is stupid but the fact is Serena would have no chance in her prime vs a good D-1 college male player. So actually Mac saying 700 is actually a very conservative estimate. I would say closer to 2000.

The only sport I can think that women truly excel over men at is gymnastics. They are more naturally flexible and the fact that they do not have to have big muscles in their gymnastics makes their sport more artistically pleasing.

If Serena hasn't brought this topic up herself, it would be totally legitimate to call McEnroe out for talking about this for no reason, but let's not forget, it was Serena proposing she could play in the ATP and succeed......

It's damn true though. She is a women and she is not as good at tennis as the majority of pro ranked males. Not because she's a women but because it's straight facts.

Serena started this because she claimed she could beat a 200 level man. She tried and lost badly. So because of her bragging we know she's at least well below a 200 man. Yet this comparison, brought on originally by Serena (and Venus as well, who also lost to the guy) is being blamed on men. That's why this conversation is going on.

I mean no women would be able to play in the NBA and we have WNBA all those chicks will be bums so what's the point??

LZ gay ass been waiting in this day

John McEnroe was wrong.... she would be closer to 1000... sigh.

For the last 10 years, Serena has dominated in women's tennis while no other female tennis player came close." Roger Federer would have achieved so much more if Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic didn't 'come close'. Serena Williams 'is', as McEnroe said, the greatest 'female' tennis player ever. Except, she has had a huge 'lack of competition'! Serena accomplished so much, in part, due to a lack of formidable female competition in those same years. Her 309 consecutive weeks (5.9 years) holding the 'number 1 spot' record still doesn't come close to 377-week (7.2 years) record still held by Steffi Graf.

If the women are as good as the men and you really want to know what the rankings would be... let's just have single leagues. Let Serena play 5 sets with 120 mph serves and then see where she ranks.

He was asked a question and gave a honest answer. End of Story

People are trying to twist what McEnroe said. If you listened to the entire interview where he made these comments, he acknowledged that Serena is the G.O.A.T. of women's tennis. He just wanted to point out that she would struggle if she played on the men's tour, which is 100% true. The men's game is much much faster than the women's. McEnroe was actually being kind by saying 700 because I'm pretty sure there are many more that can beat her. She and Venus actually played the 202 ranked player on the men's tour several years ago and both got absolutely crushed (Serena 6-1, Venus 6-2) and the guy was drinking beer and smoking cigarettes during the matches as well 😂.

Yes womens tennis uses a different ball than the men do. The two balls are the same in size and pressure, but in most events men use extra-duty felt, which slows the overall speed, while women use regular-duty felt. Serena is 5'9 155 lbs. The average man is 6'2 185 lbs in tennis with some 6'8 225.

She said herself that she doesn't want to be referred to in terms of gender. She wants to be known as an athlete. She is the one who planted the seed. These dudes are following Elzie's lead and being simps. He told the damn truth.

At one time Martina said she could beat the 100 ranked man. When Chris Evert heard this she said "That's pretty good. I can't even beat my dad".

Would the winner of the Olympic 100m women's race beat anyone in the mens heats?

America went from protecting freedom of speech to protecting freedom of censorship. Everyone has the right to judge what can be said or not? Even if what he said was totally outrageous, which is not, can't a guy give his opinion?

If Serena its so good lets have her play the male circuit. Simple. Please. Lets do it. I want people to understand how poor her level actually is. I'll put it this way: if you are learning Tennis, no way in hell you should emulate or learn from Serena. Thats what Federer and Nadal are for.

Kristine Leahy said this today on the Herd " there has to be a way, were a Woman can be the best". we live in a society were we have to treat Women like there stepping off the short yellow bus... it's driving me crazy!!

I still find it funny that he says "Any time that you feel the need to compare a woman's accomplishments...automatically diminishing what the woman has done." which applies to the NPR reporter.

Hey look, 2-3 people taking McEnroe's argument completely out of context. But what does a former #1 in the world know about tennis anyway.

I don't even know why people want to have these conversations in the first place... It's pointless. In most sports, men would come away with the win whilst competing against women; there are always exceptions, but at the end of the day men and women are built differently. That's why there are separate leagues; a league for men and one for women (yes triggered people, there are only two sexes, get over it). It is to assure that there is fairness. I can guarantee that had that not been the case, we would've been calling for a separation of the one league, into two separate divisions, because the odds would almost always be stacked against us. People act as if it's such an embarrassment that there are differences. Men are men, women are women. There is no need to try and bring everything together; things that were meant to be different/opposite of each other in the 1st place.

i think for people who don't know much about tennis, 700 hundred can sound shocking, but actually for people who know tennis , mcenroe is giving her a lot of consideration, people don't realise that there are a lot of excelent tennis players around the world, not only those you watch on tv, the simple fact of being ranked inside the 1000, means that you are really good, it's very selective, in morrocco this year a guy ranked around 900 beat a guy ranked around 50 in the world , amine ahouda vs marcel granollers. look it up if you dont believe it. an other example i discovered recently : mary pierce, a former top woman tennis champion, two weeks before she won the french open, was training with a guy not even ranked on the atp, outside 1000, and he beat her 6 1, 6 1.

McEnroe said Serena Williams was the best female tennis player ever. It was the interviewer who injected gender into the question with "Why not just say she's the best tennis player ever?" His answer should have been: "Because it's silly to directly compare women and men when it comes to most sports. They have different biologies". The fact she would probably rank below a large number of professional male players in a mixed league was a clumsy way of putting this.

In the interview, McEnroe was asked how Williams would fair amongst the men. Second, She did play the 205 ranked mens tennis player and didn't win a single game. Just saying.

0:46 - 0:56 he did those moments a little too good....

i dont really know if mens tennis and womens tennis is much different. he saying they different sports but out of all the major sports mens and womens tennis pretty much the same. the level of competition is different, but the skills/ traits it takes to be great at it are the same.

Another event dubbed a "Battle of the Sexes" took place during the 1998 Australian Open[51] between Karsten Braasch and the Williams sisters. Venus and Serena Williams had claimed that they could beat any male player ranked outside the world's top 200, so Braasch, then ranked 203rd, challenged them both. Braasch was described by one journalist as "a man whose training regime centered around a pack of cigarettes and more than a couple bottles of ice cold lager".[52][51] The matches took place on court number 12 in Melbourne Park,[53] after Braasch had finished a round of golf and two shandies. He first took on Serena and after leading 5-0, beat her 6-1. Venus then walked on court and again Braasch was victorious, this time winning 6-2.[54] Braasch said afterwards, "500 and above, no chance". He added that he had played like someone ranked 600th in order to keep the game "fun".[55] Braasch said the big difference was that men can chase down shots much easier, and that men put spin on the ball that the women can't handle. The Williams sisters adjusted their claim to beating men outside the top 350

When John said 700 I was like that's generous. I know college players at my school who can destroy her.

The best part is how they leave out that it was the npr interviewer who got hung up on the qualifier...if she had not said anything mcenroe would have continued saying the nice things about serena that she so longed for

John was asked a question and he answered it. Plain and simple. John is a no bullshit kind of dude. You should've seen how he treated tennis judges back in the day 😵😳

People are too afraid to say that women will never be equal in the world of sports, unless men and women finally compete against each other we’re gonna keep stirring the bullshit!

Context people... McEnroe was asked the question about Serena if she could be considered the best tennis player in the world... period. Of course he's going to say no when you compare the talent with the men's side. There's a ton of talent out there. In fact, he qualified earlier in that discussion that Serena is the best female player in the world... period. Her greatness is not a question in his mind.

Serena Williams is definitely one of the greatest female players ever if not the greatest female of all time. It's hard to compare men and women's tennis because at the pro level, the intensity at the top is tougher then it is amongst the women's best when men play best of five while women are doing best of three. Is it possible that Serena could beat Nadal/Federer? Sure but your best beat is on Nadal/Federer who could hold their own better than any other female pro at a comparable level.

I think there's a bit of hyperbole put let's not fuck around she isn't beating anyone in the top 100. Her serve is 40 mph slower than some of the top men. McEnroe was a savage when he played and he's still a savage now.

Serena once said on a show men was stronger, faster and serve faster. Maybe she hit mad because McEnroe said she woukd be 700 if she played against men. This is stupid, media starts up shit thats not relevant.

Mac wasn't puffing his chest out, he doesn't give a shit about pumping up his own resume. That's why he routinely says this current generation of men are the greatest players of all time, no question they're better than him and Borg. Read the whole interview, he was baited into a headline grabbing question, and by answering honestly he fell into the trap.

The thing is if he wants to compare women's ability to play men on the tour, why not generalize it? Why single out Serena? She is the best of the women yes, but that shouldn't make her the target of such comparison. It just seems that he meant to come at her on a personal level. If he meant otherwise, he would not have singled her out

I don't see how it's possible for anybody to even consider ranking someone as the all time greatest in a sport if the current 200th best player in the world could beat them at said sport if they were both in their prime.

People,John McEnroe was ASKED why he didnt say she was best tennis player ever,not best FEMALE tennis player ever. HE JUST STATED LOGICALLY WHY SHE WOULD BE CRUSHED.Mens serves are 50 kpH(30 mph) faster.If u ever watched mixed doubles you know that if man is serving to a female its a clean game.Plus men are faster.Plus they are playing best of 5 against female best of 3.Pls stop McEnroe did nothing wrong.

This took McEnroe's comments completely out of context.

Notice how none of these guys are informed enough about the sport of tennis.

I HATE the Media! These fools are oblivious. McEnroe didn’t come straight out and make that statement. He said “she is the best woman player in the world” and a woman then said “why not call her the best player in the World?” … and he CORRECTLY responded that she isn’t the best in the world. She is around the 700th best in the world. And then a week or two later !SERENA HERSELF! said the exact same thing!

She played once against Karsten Braasch Nr. 203 and lost 6-1 and after that he beat her sister Venus 6-2.

"Anytime you feel the need to" dude , mcenroe was asked the question

0:26 What u dont really know is what he even said in the interview. So uniformed ...

He right tho, all he was doing is ranking all tennis players as one group. His statesment removed gender.

The first guy made the good point at first but then he turned on throwing shades at McEnroe opinion: he was either dummmdummm or missed informed

Men and women's tennis are literally exactly the same except for the men and women part

The NPR interviewer baited him. But, He's still right.

No matter what any feminist wants to believe women are not biologically equal to men on avg. In sports Men will always have the advantage period.

He's being kind. Didn't a group of 15 year old school boys beat the World Cup winning women's soccer team? Yessss.

She and her sister did get beat by a 300th player in the 90s and lost. And by the way He didn't bring it up. The interviewer did. The dude sitting at the 3rd sit makes it sound like he just randomly said it.

Simple solution to this put the 700 ranked player against Serena and see what happens

Just have men and women play together with no separation.

They obviously didn't hear the whole original interview. He was led to say the things he said by the woman interviewing him.

The reason McEnroe said this, was bc alot of people are trying to say that Serena could compete in the men's circuit and they believe she would still be dominant. She's built like a dude and she is the only female pro that has power that is fairly close to the men, but she wouldn't be able to dominate and she definitely isn't the best tennis player ever. She's the best female player ever, which she should be damn proud of.

"It's a different sport"... "but how?"..."it's a different sport." Why do they put people on TV who can't express themselves properly. Unlike, oh, I dunno, McEnroe!

Serena said on world wide TV that if she played Andy Murray, she would lose 6-0, 6-0 in 5-6 minutes, 10 minutes tops. Why are people ignoring her and spewing on McEnroe for saying the same thing? If Serena was on the men's circuit, no one would know her name.

John was asked the question…so he wasn’t puffing his chest you buffoons…he was giving an honest and probably accurate answer. He may have even been generous saying 700.

In tennis you hit a ball back and forth. It's not a contact sport bro. A woman can't do that better than a man? This isn't football and basketball we're talking about.

She serves the ball 120 mph...some men in that top 700 can't even do that...

John McEnroe spoke his mind . Unforunately the guys speaking in this video are more concerned about their job than anything else. Sad commentary on the state of affairs.

Marcellus Wiley bringing up elementary school is weak. Before puberty everyone is reasonably the same. The first point is the one that stands and I'm glad they brought it back around

im guessing someone asked McEnroe where she would rank, and so he answered the question. I don't see what the big deal is

I don't even understand how 3 of these guys are analysts and that's what they came up with to say having planned it in advance, smh

00:25 dude we know.

Women's and Men's tennis are as different as the NBA and NFL...I don't know where to start with this statement.

At 0:30 he is wrong. Steffi Graf has many more tournament wins than Serena. Steffi also won her Grand Slam tournaments at a much younger age. Steffi also is the last person to win the Grand Slam: 1988. Serena didn't do that. Also a certain Don Bradman is so far in front of any other cricketer; statistically speaking. A veritable Everest amongst foothills. This is noteworthy as cricket is played by many more countries than baseball is.

Why is being the best women tennis player not good enough. I feel like people take it as a insult but it’s not.

There are no women, middle eastern or native americans on the panel. I am outraged!

This question has been answered. In 1998, Serena and Venus Williams thought that they could beat any pro male ranked above 200 (even they know they can't compete against the best). A friendly match was arranged with male pro Karsten Braasch, ranked 203, to play one set against each sister in succession. He beat Serena 6-1 and then beat Venus 6-2. The best men have more speed, and endurance than the women (men play best of of five sets at major tournaments, women just best of three sets. Yes they tried five sets with women one year and they had to change it back to three). McEnroe knows what he is talking about when he says Serena would be ranked in 700s of mens pros.

Actually Marcellus Wiley, it is a different ball. Men use extra duty while women use regular. What does that mean? It means that the balls on the men's side are harder to hit faster then womens due to the extra coating. According to York University the men would "probably hit 175 mph serve if they used tge women's ball" Instead they hit it at 130 the women hit it at 105 and we're all good

I'm not one to defend McEnroe, but these guys should do some research and know....The interviewer (female) was the one who pressed the issue in the interview because he said Serena was the best female tennis player ever. That wasn't enough. The interviewer pressed on and forced his hand to explain himself. Then he's made out to be the one forwarding men's dominance.

Twinkies are the greatest junk food, but would rank about 700 in all food.

Serena in my mind is definitely the most dominant female player of all time and arguably one of the greatest female athletes ever, but it's pretty much undeniable she would not be able to handle the top male players in a serious game.

but guy only said it because he was pressured to answer the question . he didn't just come out and just say it.

The John McEnroe interview on CBS this morning was the worst I've every seen. The hosts were so angry. The head of CBS Should never let this happen to a guest.

We don't know if Williams would be a top player if she played against men? Yes we do. She wouldn't, thus the reason for the sexes playing each other. Feminist logic is astounding.

I don't know who those dudes are but if they say that they are athletes and don't know if Serena would be able to beat the men then they must be lying to themselves. I don't see how you can be an athlete and not know the difference.

Blame it on the commentator she the one the said. "Why not say best Tennis player ever.".

This makes no sense to me to have to compare her accomplishment to "what if she was playing against men?". The world has mostly dubbed Floyd Mayweather as the best "pound for pound" fighter. That's means basing on beating the competition in front of you and overall technical ability. We all know that if Floyd faced Mike Tyson "pound for pound" he would get murdered loool. So bringing up gender as a measure of her skill makes no sense to me. I feel it does show a level of insecurity.

Serena lost 6-1 in a set against a man ranked 203, but a week later that same man, after adjustments in the rankings, was ranked over 700. If Serena played with men she wouldn’t be ranked in the top 5,000. This does not mean she is not a great tennis player. She is the best woman player ever. McEnroe said so, rightly, and he was generous in saying 700.

Marcellus the only one spitting facts

If Men's and Women's tennis are different then why does the best female tennis player look like a man?