{"id":1983,"date":"2026-04-05T16:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1983"},"modified":"2026-04-05T16:30:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T16:30:34","slug":"top-junior-would-beat-aryna-sabalenka-in-double-quick-time-claims-respected-tennis-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/?p=1983","title":{"rendered":"Top junior would beat Aryna Sabalenka in double quick time, claims respected tennis voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debate over the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 in tennis is always divisive and now Patrick McEnroe has served up some spicy comments that are bound to cause a stir.<\/p>\n

With female and male players competing on the same tennis stages around the world every year, this is the one sport where comparisons are hard to avoid.<\/p>\n

When statistics confirm top female players like world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> hit their ground shots harder than top male players, that sparks discussion over whether she could challenge a top male player.<\/p>\n

Yet that theory was banished when Sabalenka was well beaten by a less-than-fit Nick Kyrgios<\/a> in an exhibition event in December.<\/p>\n

Now McEnroe, the younger brother of tennis legend John and a former top player in his own right, has taken the perilous decision to step into the discussion.<\/p>\n

More Tennis News<\/h2>\n

Contentious Battle of the Sexes fiasco needs to be replaced by \u2018genius\u2019 Australian Open innovation<\/a><\/p>\n

Iga Swiatek gives her honest opinion on Aryna Sabalenka & Nick Kyrgios\u2019 \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking on Sirius XM, the 1989 French Open doubles champion, was eager to suggest the women\u2019s and men\u2019s game should not be compared, but he then gave a clear verdict.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to get into it\u2026 it doesn\u2019t matter to me because it\u2019s just a different game,\u201d stated McEnroe.<\/p>\n

He went on to insist he didn\u2019t want to \u2018denigrate\u2019 women\u2019s tennis, as he explained why the best female player in the world would be well beaten by a top junior boy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you took the top junior player in the world, the top 17 year-old and put him up against Sabalenka, they beat her 6-1, 6-1 or something,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again to me it\u2019s irrelevant. I don\u2019t say that to denigrate women\u2019s [tennis], I love women\u2019s tennis. I\u2019ll watch that if there\u2019s a great matchup more than I\u2019ll watch a men\u2019s blowout match. It\u2019s just a totally different game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd tennis, for some reason, people don\u2019t look at it the same way because they see Madison Keys or Sabalenka hit their forehand as hard as [Jannik] Sinner. Well, they\u2019re not hitting it with the same spin and the movement\u2019s different.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Patrick\n

Patrick McEnroe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

McEnroe\u2019s comments come after former world No 7 Barbara Schett spoke to Tennis365 about the Sabalenka vs Kyrgios match, as she struggled to contain her annoyance over the exhibition contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been spending the last 30 years telling everyone that men\u2019s tennis and women\u2019s tennis are different. A woman cannot beat a guy because of the physicality. It\u2019s just not possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey always complain, why do we get the same amount of prize money. I always tell them we are working hard as well. We might not be playing best of five (sets), but everything we put into tennis and everything we do in training is exactly the same.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen we see the reaction and they say he (Kyrgios) didn\u2019t even play at 100 per-cent and she has no chance. Women\u2019s tennis is then crucified. Especially men look at women\u2019s tennis and say this is ridiculous.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t compare the male and female body. That\u2019s what it is. If you watch it for the entertainment and you know whats\u2019 going to happen and that she doesn\u2019t have a chance, that\u2019s fine. But don\u2019t be surprised and say it\u2019s ridiculous how weak and bad women are. You just can\u2019t compare it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t watched it. I didn\u2019t want to watch it. I knew what was going to happen. I knew that Nick didn\u2019t even have to play at 100 per-cent to beat her pretty easy. I have no interest in watching anything like that. It hurts me, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a> for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Schett went on to state the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 concept does not need to be explored again, as she reflected on her own experience playing against men and that includes recent experience playing against her husband, Joshua Eagle, who is a former Grand Slam doubles finalist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I was top ten and I was playing against 15 and 16-year-old boys. They were stronger, taller and they were serving really well,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hit with my husband now, I have absolutely no chance. That\u2019s just the way it is. The women\u2019s body is just different.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s just cherish the men and the women individually and just be respectful. I\u2019ve had to defend women\u2019s sports, women\u2019s tennis and myself for 30 years, and I\u2019m sick of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ NEXT: Barbara Schett \u2018sick\u2019 of criticism of women\u2019s tennis and admits she didn\u2019t watch Battle of the Sexes clash<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The post Top junior would beat Aryna Sabalenka in double quick time, claims respected tennis voice<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The debate over the \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019 in tennis is always divisive and now Patrick McEnroe has served up some spicy comments that are bound to cause a stir. With female and male players competing on the same tennis stages around the world every year, this is the one sport where comparisons are hard […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}