BBC viewers fuming over Serena Williams as Wimbledon complaint issued | Tennis | Sport

BBC viewers were up in arms after World Cup pundits decided to take time out of Norway’s 2-1 win over the Ivory Coast to speak about Serena Williams’ Wimbledon comeback, rather than the match at hand. Erling Haaland scored a late winner to send his nation into the last 16, just moments before the iconic American was about to make her grand return to SW19.

At the age of 44, Williams faced Aussie Maya Joint and while BBC2 was focusing on the event, BBC1 was showcasing the evening’s first World Cup match. However, Gabby Logan decided to turn conversation towards the tennis, much to the frustration of many watching the football.

They vented their frustrations on social media, with @TMUFC writing on X: “What the h*** are they playing on bbc ???? World Cup on and we’re hearing about Serena Williams.”

It was a common frustration among viewers, as @MutedIrish added: “BBC blabbering on about Serena Williams for 3 minutes in the middle of a World Cup game. Ridiculous.”

@350Deep similarly wrote: “World Cup going on and BBC commentating about Serena Williams?? What the hell is going on.”

Then @Christo82406026 chimed in by saying: “F*** me #BBC more interested in Serena Williams returning than commentating on the football.”

Meanwhile, many more were frustrated that the match forced viewers to change channels, a frequent complaint during the championship.

In the second set, at 8.30pm, host Clare Balding informed viewers that the match would be moving from BBC2 to BBC1, after Norway had defeated Ivory Coast.

But the news did not go down too well with those who were already watching on BBC2, and forced to get out the remote.

@miss_tracydav complained: “For the love of god bbc stop moving the tennis between channels and then waffling over it!”

While @OKRJohn wrote: “@bbc @Wimbledon just keep the coverage on BBC2. Bloody nuts keep changing! And bring back Sue Barker and rid of Claire Balding!!!”

Similarly, @BettyBlack74 added: “@bbc @Wimbledon. Can you not just keep the tennis on bbc2 from start to finish. It’s ridiculous, keep changing channels. I appreciate there is the Iplayer but for some older people like my mam at 88 she just wants to watch tennis on a normal channel.”