John McEnroe paid more than £200,000 for Wimbledon commentary by BBC
John McEnroe has left Wimbledon richer by more than £200,000, as per the BBC's annual report disclosing its employee salaries.
The American was paid between £205,000 and £209,000 for the two weeks of commentating work he did at SW19 for the British corporation this year. McEnroe, interestingly, did not commentate the men's singles final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, as he had other duties to fulfil.
However, he did commentate the women's singles final between Marketa Vondrousova and Ons Jabeur, which took place a day earlier. While Vondrousova downed Jabeur to win her maiden Grand Slam title, Alcaraz stunned four-time defending champion Djokovic to take home his second Major trophy.
Having earned more than £100,000 a week during his Wimbledon stint, McEnroe outdid the salary of the average Premier League player in the same time period. Furthermore, as reported by the Mirror, McEnroe is also the highest-paid employee in BBC's roster pro rata.
Despite the seemingly exorbitant price, the BBC is reportedly happy to avail the services of the seven-time Grand Slam champion becuase of the "unique perspective" he adds to their coverage.
“He is one of the most popular and respected pundits in tennis, and he provides a unique perspective to our coverage,” an insider said, as quoted by the Sunday Times.
John McEnroe praised Novak Djokovic for how he handled hindrance call in Wimbledon SF against Jannik Sinner
When Novak Djokovic took on Jannik Sinner during the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships, John McEnroe was on commentating duty for the BBC.
While it was a comfortable straight-set win for the Serb, he had to fend off a hindrance call from the chair umpire after he was accused of letting out an extended grunt in the middle of a rally.
John McEnroe praised Djokovic for the way he handled the situation, simply shrugging off the incident and getting on with the match instead of choosing to dwell on the call.
The American asserted that not many players would have handled it as coolly as the 23-time Grand Slam champion as he blamed the chair umpire for a call he felt was unfair.
"Never in his 18-year career he said, not one time it had ever been called. Horrible, horrible call. First of all, did you notice that Sinner's ball went back in the court and dropped like a foot from the baseline? I mean, how much of a hindrance could it have been? And then the call for the time warning in the same game," John McEnroe said.
"He (Djokovic) handled it admirably, way better than most players (would have). He said it could have turned the whole thing - he is absolutely right. I would have hated that that would have been the turning point. It's one thing if Sinner lifts his game, that's great, competition - but not when the umpire gets in the middle of it," he added.