John McEnroe in feisty BBC row with Wimbledon fan over Arthur Fery | Tennis | Sport

John McEnroe insists Wimbledon made the right decision in awarding Serena Williams a wildcard over another Brit. McEnroe was challenged during his BBC Radio 5 Live show on whether a British woman should have been given a wildcard instead amid Arthur Fery’s run to the semi-finals in the men’s singles.

Fery is just the second men’s wildcard to reach the last four at SW19 after Goran Ivanisevic’s famous run to the title in 2001. The 23-year-old beat Flavio Cobolli in straight sets on Wednesday to set up a meeting with French Open champion Alexander Zverev. Fery will be looking to become the first Brit to reach the Wimbledon final since Andy Murray‘s final Grand Slam title in 2016.

Williams, meanwhile, was dumped out of Wimbledon in the first round of the women’s singles. The three-set loss to Maya Joint was her first singles match in four years.

The 44-year-old was then forced to pull out of the women’s doubles alongside her sister Venus due to a knee injury suffered against Joint. It ended her comeback at SW19 which followed doubles matches at Queens and Berlin in the build-up.

And McEnroe was questioned by a Scottish caller called, Bill, during his radio show over whether a British woman should have been given a wildcard instead of Williams.

You can read the transcript below in full as McEnroe batted away suggestions that another Brit should have received one.

John McEnroe’s radio row in full

Bill: “In the light of Arthur Fery’s success at Wimbledon, would it not have been better in the women’s draw to give a wildcard to a British player rather than to Serena Williams who has already had a career?”

McEnroe: “They did give a lot of wildcards to British players, they gave like six or seven of them.” Bill: “They could still have given one more!”

McEnroe: “Tell that to the BBC and their ratings when she played! The highest rating they ever had on a Tuesday. Let’s be real now. What you’re saying is if Roger Federer came back to play, we should give it to a British wildcard instead of Roger Federer?”

Bill: “Can I speak?” McEnroe: “Sure go ahead!”

Bill: “What would have happened if Roger Federer had got the wildcard Arthur Fery got? We’d never have heard of Arthur Fery and his career and his life changing.”

McEnroe: “Whoever the 600 guy was, he’d take it from!” Bill: “It’s about British tennis isn’t it? The crowd are still going to be there, the tickets are all sold…”

McEnroe: “We’re going to have to respectfully disagree with you. That’s a very unusual thing.” Bill: “This was life-changing for Arthur Fery, it could have been life-changing for another British player!”

McEnroe: “We’ll keep that in mind when we speak to Tim Henman next year and he passes out the wildcards.”