Shortly after advancing to the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time in his career, American tennis player Ben Shelton brought the spotlight back onto the “embarrassing and disrespectful” comments from interviewers throughout the tournament. “I’ve been a little bit shocked this week by how players have been treated by the broadcasters,” the 22-year-old American said in a post-match interview after triumphing over Lorenzo Sonego on Wednesday. Shelton mentioned the post-match chat with 19-year-old American phenom Learner Tien after he defeated Daniil Medvedev, where the teenager was left speechless after the interviewer told him “19-year-olds are not meant to be that good” and “I used to live in Newport Beach so I know where you live.” Shelton said he also got his share of similar comments, including an interviewer who asked: “Hey Ben, how does it feel that no matter who you play in your next match, no one is going to be cheering for you?” The American’s comments come just days after 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic called out the tournament’s official broadcaster, Channel 9, after one of its presenters filmed a segment mocking the tennis champ as “overrated” and a “has-been.” The presenter, Tony Jones, eventually apologized for the comments.
Interesting end to Ben Shelton’s press conference.
Unprompted, he took a moment to tear into the quality of local broadcasting and specifically on-court interviewing at #AusOpen. pic.twitter.com/ig76VrKq2C
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 22, 2025
Read it at The Guardian
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