BBC viewers fuming over Serena Williams coverage as same Wimbledon complaint issued
BBC viewers expressed frustration with coverage of Serena Williams' Wimbledon return on Tuesday, citing both programming decisions and commentary bias.
Williams, 44, faced Australian Maya Joint in her first singles match since the 2022 US Open, losing 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 on Centre Court. But complaints extended beyond the tennis.
During coverage of a World Cup match on BBC1, commentators diverted discussion to Serena's comeback. BBC2 covered the tennis while BBC1 showed the football. "What the h are they playing on World Cup on and we're hearing about Serena Williams," posted viewer TMUFC. MutedIrish wrote: "BBC blabbering on about Serena Williams for 3 minutes in the middle of a World Cup game Ridiculous." Another viewer asked: "World Cup going on and BBC commentating about Serena Williams What the h is going on."
Complaints also focused on match commentary. Viewers felt commentators Nick Mullins, John McEnroe and Tracy Austin devoted excessive airtime praising Serena rather than fairly covering her opponent. "I don't think the BBC commentary team are being very fair to Maya Joint considering she has just won the first set Every time Serena hits the ball they seem to be anticipating a winning shot," one viewer posted on X. Another stated: "It's fun to see Serena Williams back at Wimbledon but the BBC commentators are awful Every other sentence tells us how long it's been and bigging her up." One viewer complained: "No critique of Serena's game by BBC commentators." The criticism intensified. "The constant fawning over Williams is starting to grate," wrote one viewer, while another asked: "Is anyone else getting sick and tired of the constant regurgitation of the facts and figures of Serena Williams by the commentators Good lord I think I know her entire career by now."
Complaints also emerged about coverage moving between channels. "For the love of god bbc stop moving the tennis between channels and then waffling over it," tweeted miss tracydav. BettyBlack74 added: "BBC Wimbledon Can you not just keep the tennis on BBC2 from start to finish It's ridiculous keep changing channels I appreciate there is the but for some older people like my mam at 88 she just wants to watch tennis on a normal channel."