John McEnroe ranks Serena Williams 700th amongst men

06/26/2017

Seven-time Grand Slam Champion John McEnroe stated that he would rank Serena Williams, the World No. 1 female tennis player, 700th if she played among men. The American legend had also claimed, two years back, that he could beat the 23-time Grand Slam winner in a singles match.

In an interview with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro, the 58-year old suggested that Serena Williams stands no chance in the men's category of tennis.

"Some wouldn't qualify it, some would say she's the best player in the world," Garcia-Navarro challenged McEnroe on the subject of Williams, "Why qualify it?"

"Oh!" McEnroe replied. "Uh, she's not, you mean, the best player in the world, period?"

"Yeah, the best tennis player in the world," Garcia-Navarro said. "You know, why say female player?"

"Well because if she was in, if she played the men's circuit she'd be like 700 in the world," McEnroe said.

". . . That doesn't mean I don't think Serena is an incredible player. I do, but the reality of what would happen would be I think something that perhaps it'd be a little higher, perhaps it'd be a little lower. And on a given day, Serena could beat some players. I believe because she's so incredibly strong mentally that she could overcome some situations where players would choke 'cause she's been in it so many times, so many situations at Wimbledon, The US Open, etc. But if she had to just play the circuit - the men's circuit - that would be an entirely different story."

Serena was asked about the possibility of competing with Andy Murray in an exhibition match during an appearance on a TV show, to which the 35-year old had replied, "For me, men's tennis and women's tennis are completely, almost, two separate sports. If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes. No, it's true. It's a completely different sport. The men are a lot faster and they serve harder, they hit harder, it's just a different game.

"I love to play women's tennis. I only want to play girls, because I don't want to be embarrassed."

McEnroe has never competed with Williams in his lifetime. However, the current US President Donald Trump had approached McEnroe to battle it out with Serena in a USD 1 million, winner-takes-all match, at his Trump Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City.

McEnroe had earlier claimed he could defeat Williams in a singles match and reiterated his statement during his interview with Garcia-Navarro as well.

"I mean my kids don't think I can beat her anymore," McEnroe said. "Maybe I should get her now because she's pregnant."