Tennis star John McEnroe says President Donald Trump – in his pre-White House days – once offered him "sums of money" for a battle-of-the-sexes-like match with either Serena or Venus Williams.
In an interview on "The Dan Patrick Show" on Tuesday to talk about his controversial assertion Serena Williams would rank "like No. 700 in the world" if she played on the men's circuit, the blunt-speaking McEnroe dropped a bombshell about Trump's big-bucks offer.
The remarks were posted on YouTube.
Asked why people had a problem with his comments, McEnroe said, "I don't know," but mentioned the Bobby Riggs match against Billie Jean King and one between Jimmy Connors and Martina Navratilova that first raised the idea of male-female tennis matchups.
"Over the course of time, people including our now-president – he wasn't president at the time – have offered me sums of money to play Serena or Venus," he then said. "I don't know why I'm always the guy they want to play . . . But at any rate, I believe I have some ability left and I had pride when I played. Why don't they ask her to play Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal on clay, see how that goes?"
He also explained why he turned down the offers.
"I never thought really that was something, to mix the apples and the oranges," he said. "I'd probably suggest now that it might not be a bad idea – if everyone's up in arms about it – have the women play in the men's circuit, we'll see what happens."
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