Until a few days ago, Jon Wertheim was going about his job of being a pundit for the likes of Tennis Channel and the Served Podcast with Andy Roddick with ridiculous ease. Little did he realize that his candid way of communicating his thoughts would snowball into him losing one of those two gigs within 24 hours. Wertheim has been slammed largely by the tennis community for mocking Wimbledon champion Barbara Krejcikova’s appearance on live television.
Krejcikova reacted furiously to it, calling Wertheim ‘unprofessional’ in a press statement, without taking his name. That made many laud the star player for being classy in her response. The statement played a huge role in Wertheim not only apologizing but also claiming that he rang up her agent almost immediately after that to clarify himself in person.
Wertheim was left with no option but to go on the podcast he co-founded with Roddick to explain the entire saga. The veteran American journalist claimed that he was only trying to be ‘self-deprecating,’ which happened to have the photo of Krejcikova on the live segment.
He called himself the ‘jacka** broadcaster with a red mic’ while apologizing to Roddick as well on the podcast. Wertheim condemned his own ‘uncharitable’ act, after which he went on to laud Krejcikova for the grace she had shown him after her retaliation. He added that she ‘doesn’t need this s***’ as she has had a great season, which involved her winning the Wimbledon title.
Wertheim ended his statement on the podcast by claiming that he is ready for whatever is to come as ‘actions have consequences’. While it is unlikely that Tennis Channel will take him back, it would be interesting to see where he goes from here as he still has the podcast and his social media pages to look after.
Wertheim gained fame from his 60 Minutes episodes
Wertheim has taken the interviews of the likes of Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal on 60 Minutes. He covered their styles of play, mentalities, personalities and backgrounds in a way that few journalists have done in the last 20 years.
In fact, when Nadal announced his retirement a few weeks ago, a segment of his interview with him from 2019 went viral. Interestingly, while the scribe was asking him all his questions in English, Nadal answered them all in Spanish with subtitles below the screen.
Jon Wertheim has been covering tennis great Rafael Nadal since he was 18 – before he won any majors. https://t.co/xlXhp8JSCk pic.twitter.com/i7Vs8tDg72
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 14, 2024
However, Wertheim has been accused by a section of the tennis community of being ‘pro-establishment’ due to his associations with people like Roddick. The American’s lavish praises for Nadal and Roger Federer have not gone unnoticed by die-hard Djokovic fans, who believe that he doesn’t talk well about the Serb nor his fans as much in comparison.
In fact, at Wimbledon 2024, Wertheim pointed out how Djokovic publicly acknowledged Pavvy G, one of his superfans, but did not take responsibility for any of his controversial statements. The journalist had to keep shut due to the backlash he faced online and it seems that doing the same might help get him through this phase as well.
