Ben Shelton criticises 'embarrassing' and 'disrespectful' broadcasters at Australian Open
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The American referred to several questions and comments made by post-match TV interviewers. US tennis player Ben Shelton claims that he has been “shocked” by the actions of TV broadcasters at the Australian Open, calling some of the interviews “negative” and “disrespectful”.
Shelton’s comments come just a few days after Channel Nine presenter Tony Jones was forced to apologise to Novak Djokovic after jokingly saying on air that the Serbian was “overrated” and a “has-been”. And Shelton, speaking at the end of his post-match press conference on Wednesday, said that he was shocked 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 single event. I’ve noticed it with different people, not just myself,” said Shelton. The American mentioned an “embarrassing” and “disrespectful” interview that he saw with compatriot Learner Tien, right after the 19-year-old had knocked out fifth seed Daniil Medvedev. Interviewer John Fitzgerald said to Tien that “19-year-olds aren't meant to be that good", before asking him if he had heard of his next opponent, Corentin Moutet.
Shelton also referenced two interviews of his own that he was unhappy about, with the first coming after his win over Gael Monfils, when interviewer Roger Rasheed attempted to make a joke about the age gap between the two players, stating that Monfils is “almost your dad”. Shelton misunderstood the comment, asking: “Was that a black joke?”.
