BBC apologises for Wimbledon gaffe
Commentator writes to French tennis player to say sorry for saying she was ‘never going to be a looker’
BRITISH sports commentator John Inverdale has written to French tennis player Marion Bartoli to apologise for comments he made after her Wimbledon win at the weekend, when he said she was “never going to be a looker”.
The foot-in-mouth broadcaster said he had told her he was sorry “if any offence was caused” by his “ham-fisted” comments.
After Bartoli had beaten German player Sabine Lisicki, Inverdale asked his colleagues on the commentary team: "Do you think Bartoli's dad told her when she was little: 'You're never going to be a looker, you'll never be a Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight'?"
The BBC apologised for the comments, saying: "We accept this was insensitive and for that we apologise."
Bartoli said later: “It doesn't matter, honestly. I am not blonde, yes. That is a fact. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. I'm sorry. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely, yes."
Inverdale later apologised on air before the second Wimbledon final – when Scot Andy Murray became the first Briton to win the men’s title in 77 years - and said: "The point I was trying to make, in a rather ham-fisted kind of way, was that in a world where the public perception of tennis players is that they're all 6ft tall Amazonian athletes, Marion - who is the Wimbledon champion - bucks that trend."
Murray, the world No2, is the first British winner to win since Fred Perry and beat No1 Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
He and Bartoli were later photographed at the official dinner and the French player posted the picture on her Twitter account twitter.com/bartoli_marion
