Boris Becker drew criticism from some for a comment he made about a tennis player’s fiancee while calling a Wimbledon match this week.
Becker is a commentator for BBC, which was airing a quarterfinals match between Novak Djokovic and Marton Fucsovics.
Announcer John Inverdale made a joke about Fucsovics’ fiancee’s name, which is Anett Böszörményi.
“If you’re a tennis player, it’s always good to have a partner called Anett,” Inverdale joked.
Becker followed up with a comment about Böszörményi’s good looks.
“They do say they have the most beautiful women in Hungary. I wouldn’t know that, but she’s certainly very pretty,” Becker said.
Some people took offense to the comment.
The chief executive of Women in Sport criticized Becker for the “objectification of women.”
“When two men are comfortable talking about women in this way, never mind on live TV, it shows there is still more to do.”
The BBC defended Becker against the extreme reaction.
“Boris Becker made a light-hearted comment that was not intended to cause offense,” they said in a statement.
Becker, 53, won six majors during his tennis career. He served as Djokovic’s coach from 2013-2016.
We know one person who doesn’t see anything wrong with what Becker said.
