One of Australia's most successful tennis players has found herself at the centre of a vicious attack as a commentary storm erupts in the United States.
Rennae Stubbs, who has competed in four Olympics and represented Australia for 17 years in the Fed Cup, will call on tennis streaming platform Peacock in Paris.
He was behind the microphone during the thrilling second-round match in the men's singles between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, which Nadal lost despite strong support from the French crowd.
After the game, Stubbs suffered one of the harshest attacks in history, when American sports radio personality Chris Russo took his criticism of his commentary to extreme levels.
“I watched the game this morning on Peacock… Rennae Stubbs did everything in her power to completely ruin it and she never stopped and… she did a horrible, horrible job,” Russo said on his show “Mad Dog Unleashed.”
“Oh my god. Please. If I’m sitting there at seven in the morning watching Nadal-Djokovic, I’m a tennis fan. I know the rivalry. I know what’s going on with the crowd that likes Nadal. I get it. I’m a tennis fan… I don’t need every single point. Oh, that was horrible… What a terrible broadcast.”
She added: “How not to be a host, Rennae Stubbs.”
Stubbs responded to the clip on X, saying Russo was sexist.
“This is sexism at its finest,” Russo said. “Does she comment on all the men who talk nonstop on the airwaves? Probably not.”
Russo caught the response out of the corner of his eye while it was still on the air, which only added to his frustration.
She denied any sexist undertones in her comments.
“Now I'm pissed off. So Rennae Stubbs, who completely ruined the show today, I'm going to say it until the cows come home. I watched it. Shut up. He ruined the show,” Russo said.
“How the hell can you call me sexist when I say great things about Carillo and bad things about her? If you don't think I have the right to comment on her show… now I have to listen to Rennae Stubbs attack me for her 'prolific' show today, where she didn't stop talking for two hours?”
Russo also showed off his TV commentating skills to support his claim.
“To sit there and say I can’t comment on a broadcaster when I’ve done it for 47 years? Come on,” he said.
Stubbs continued to defend himself on Twitter, responding to several other critics.
“This is the last comment I will make on this,” he wrote.
“There are a lot of male tennis commentators who talk about every single point and/or a lot! But has he ever commentated on them on his show?
“Is it sexism, apparently not in his words? Or is it matism?”
– with the New York Post
