Martina Navratilova fully stood behind Ben Shelton’s harsh criticism of Australian Open broadcasters as the tennis legend highlights that certain interviewers must level up their game.
After beating Lorenzo Sonego to make the semifinal at Melbourne Park, the American tennis star had something he wanted to publicly say.
At the end of his post-match presser, the world No. 20 wanted to point out that the Novak Djokovic – Tony Jones incident wasn’t the only case of a broadcaster making a disrespectful comment about a player.
When airing out his frustration, Shelton noted that he was told during his on-court interviews that Gael Monfils was “old enough to be your dad” and also asked how it felt knowing that no one would support him in the semifinal against either Jannik Sinner or Alex de Minaur.
Also, the 22-year-old mentioned that Learner Tien was also subjected to some disrespectful remarks after his big win over Daniil Medvedev.
Ben Shelton© Australian Open/YouTube
After listing all the cases, the American urged the media to think twice before saying something and to also work on promoting the game instead of bashing it.
Ben Shelton at the end of his press conference
“One thing that I just want to say before we’re done. I’ve been a little bit shocked this week with how players have been treated by the broadcasters.
I don’t think that the guy who mocked Novak, I don’t think that was just a…
— Quentin Moynet (@QuentinMoynet) January 22, 2025
Navratilova backs Shelton: He’s right… Some must use their brain a little bit better
“Yeah, he’s right. I mean, these guys are supposed to be promoting the sport, not knocking it down,” the former 18-time Grand Slam winner said on Tennis Channel.
“On an individual level, tennis players have it pretty tough compared to professional team players, everything’s done for them. We have to create our own team and pay for everything and win matches to get paid.
“So, for the broadcasters to not be well educated enough about the individual player before they make those interviews after the match, et cetera, I mean, just use your brain a little bit better. Yeah, I agree with Ben 100%.”
If Shelton upsets Sinner in the Australian Open semifinal, there is no doubt that their will be lots of attention on how his on-court interview gets conducted.
Tennis World USA