John McEnroe under fire for poorly prepared interview question with Jannik Sinner at Australian Open

Ben Sutton
7NEWS Sport
John McEnroe's awkward question to Jannik Sinner.

American commentator John McEnroe is copping it from tennis fans after a poorly prepared interview with world No.1 Jannik Sinner on Thursday night.

Sinner survived an almighty scare to keep his Australian Open title defence alive with a hard-fought win over local wildcard Tristan Schoolkate.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: John McEnroe’s awkward question to Jannik Sinner.

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Sinner had his run of 29 consecutive sets won snapped by his 173rd-ranked opponent, but recovered to advance to the third round with a 4-6 6-4 6-1 6-3 victory on Rod Laver Arena on Thursday night.

After the match, McEnroe opened the on-court interview by asking if Sinner had encountered his opponent during their junior years given they are both 23.

“First question. You’re both 23 years old, did you know Tristan from the juniors? Were you familiar with his game or have you seen him play much before?” McEnroe asked.

John McEnroe’s interview with Jannik Sinner didn’t get off to the best start.
John McEnroe’s interview with Jannik Sinner didn’t get off to the best start. Credit: Aus Open

Most tennis fans will tell you it’s widely known the Sinner, the current best player in the world, didn’t play many junior tournaments and went straight to professional at the age of 17.

Sinner replied: “No, because I haven’t played so many juniors,” which drew some laughter from the crowd before McEnroe said “whoops”.

The Italian then paid respect to Schoolkate with a classy response before McEnroe followed up with another awkward question.

“I’m assuming that you saw Daniil Medvedev and Novak Djokovic play a couple of unknowns as well? So maybe your team got you prepared for this guy,” McEnroe asked.

Calling a player an “unknown” was another sign of lack of knowledge from the American great turned pundit.

Fans and experts were quick to call out McEnroe, including prominent reporter Jose Morgado.

“Laziest announcer they have,” one fan said.

“Any players outside the top 5 who are not American...JMac has no clue who they are lol,” another fan said.

“The lack of preparation with him is getting ridiculous. And don’t ask him about the WTA. He still talks about Serena — who, ya know, — but retired!” another one added.

“I don’t hate McEnroe but he does seem notably lazy. His brother is much better in the preparation department,” another fan said.

“McEnroe is a dinosaur. He is insufferable,” another said.

McEnroe, who conceded he was “emotional” during his career, later asked Sinner about how he keeps his cool on the court.

“We can say we are a bit different, me and you,” Sinner joked as the crowd erupted into laughter.

“But it shows that everyone is different, everyone has their own mentality. I have mine, I have to say I’m quite happy with my one.”

McEnroe responded, “what are you saying?”, to which Sinner quickly reolied, “I think we stop (the interview) here”.

Sinner is attempting to defend his title with a doping saga hanging over his head, with a Court of Arbitration for Sport hearing set to be heard in April.

It comes after the World Anti-Doping Agency appealed against the sport’s decision not to ban Sinner, despite the Italian testing positive twice for the anabolic steroid clostebol in March.

Sinner’s problems were on-court early in Thursday night’s encounter, as Schoolkate took it up to his much more accomplished opponent.

Jannik Sinner needed four sets to end the Australian Open run of local wildcard Tristan Schoolkate.
Jannik Sinner needed four sets to end the Australian Open run of local wildcard Tristan Schoolkate. Credit: AAP

The West Australian broke to love in the decisive game of the first set and held his own serve until Sinner eventually converted his first break point of the match in the seventh game of the second set.

After that Sinner took over, the two-time major winner’s class shining through as he dominated the third and fourth sets.

“It’s always tough to play against a player I don’t know very well,” Sinner said.

“He was serving really well and he was playing much better in the beginning than I was, obviously.

“I know with the crowd it was an amazing atmosphere ... it’s a very special place, especially for the Australians to play here with the home crowd.

“But I have to be very happy still for my performance and never taking things for granted, so I’m very glad to be again in the next round.”

Sinner now boasts a 15-0 record against players at their home grand slams, including three against Australians at Melbourne Park after wins over Max Purcell (2020) and Alex de Minaur (2022).

His latest victory set up a third-round meeting with American world No.46 Marcos Giron, who outlasted Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry 7-5 3-6 7-5 3-6 6-4.

Schoolkate had reached the second round by beating Japan’s Taro Daniel and relished his first experience on Rod Laver Arena against the world’s best.

The 23-year-old took huge positives out of his second grand slam appearance, after also reaching the second round on debut at last year’s US Open.

“I was super happy with the way I backed myself in for the first set especially,” Schoolkate said.

“I played great tennis, I thought I served very well, kept myself in the set and when I had the chance to break serve, I did and came away with the set ... it was pretty cool.”

Schoolkate, who relished the huge home crowd cheering him on, felt his performance was testament to the work he’s been doing out of the limelight.

“I feel like I’m improving year after year and feel like I’ve come a long way,” he said.

“To test myself against the best in the world and have some success in the match was really good.

“It gives me a lot of belief that what I’m doing is working and if I can keep working on my game and keep improving, well, hopefully I can take another set of maybe even a match off players like this.”

- With AAP

Originally published on 7NEWS Sport

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