‘Total BS!’ John McEnroe Unleashes a Fiery Defense of Novak Djokovic, Then Awkwardly Retreats After Learning the Facts
John McEnroe unleashed a passionate defense of his fellow tennis legend Novak Djokovic on ESPN Sunday, only to awkwardly retreat after being presented with some of the facts surrounding Djokovic’s deportation.
In an impassioned rant to kick off the network’s coverage of the Australian Open, McEnroe slammed Australian authorities for the confusion over whether or not the unvaccinated Djokovic would be allowed to enter, in defiance of Australian law.
“What’s gone on in the last 12 days … is total and utter chaos,” McEnroe said. “Absolute joke what’s gone on the last 12 days. It’s sad the way it ended.”
“I actually texted Novak during this, it’s total BS,” McEnroe added.
McEnroe went on to laud Djokovic — who ultimately was deported and left Australia on Sunday.
“He’s got very strong beliefs, he’s entitled to those beliefs,” McEnroe said. “The guy’s won [the Australian Open] nine times. It was gutsy, in a way. I gotta hand it to him, in a way.”
Moments later, ESPN host Chris McKendry brought in another tennis legend, Chrissie Evert, for her take. And Evert, while slamming Australian authorities for their part in the two-week long saga, was far less charitable in her assessment of Djokovic.
“At the end of the day, nobody is above the law,” Evert said. “And everybody should — there should not be anybody exempt from the laws, especially when it applies to the health and the safety of the country.”
McEnroe reiterated his defense of Djokovic, before shifting to another part of the wild story later in the discussion.
“Here’s the other part that’s weird,” McEnroe said. He added, “Supposedly he knew he had it, and then he flew back and went to Serbia, and that’s what you’re not allowed to do. And then he met with some journalist and allegedly—”
“And that behavior that came back to get him at the second court hearing,” McKendry said, interjecting. “The judges spoke about it. It was the way he behaved knowing that he was infected that concerned them.”
“Criminal, almost,” Evert said.
McEnroe went on to deliver some skepticism, while simultaneously admitting he was not privy to all of the facts.
“He spoke to a journalist in Serbia, I believe,” McEnroe said. “I don’t know the exact details of the exact dates. But is that proven? Is that proven? Is that absolute a fact? Because journalists have been known to make—”
McKendry cut him off.
“No no,” she said. “Novak came out and said, ‘Yes, in fact I did that, it is an error in judgment, I didn’t want to let the journalist down.'”
“I see,” McEnroe said, beginning to retreat. “Well that hurts, that hurt him.”
“I cringed,” Evert said. “It was the cameraman as well as journalist. And when I read that, it’s borderline criminal to expose yourself when you have Covid to someone, knowingly. That’s not good.”
McEnroe added that it’s “harder” to defend Djokovic in that context.
Watch above, via ESPN.
