John McEnroe declared he was 'mourning' the USA's embarrassing World Cup exit at the hands of Belgium as he turned up to the BBC's Wimbledon coverage dressed head-to-toe in black. The 67-year-old joined presenter Isa Guha and fellow pundit Tracy Austin on BBC Two on Tuesday to preview the all-American Centre Court showdown between Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals.
US World Cup heartbreak
The match came just hours after the US suffered World Cup heartbreak in Seattle. The co-hosts were hammered 4-1 by Belgium in the round of 16, as Charles De Ketelaere bagged a brace while Hans Vanaken and Romelu Lukaku piled further misery onto the Americans. Lukaku even took the opportunity to taunt Donald Trump following his stoppage-time strike.
McEnroe, clad in a black overshirt atop a black t-shirt despite the sweltering conditions at the All England Club, admitted he was gutted to wake up in London to see the final scoreline, and was grieving the end of the USA's World Cup aspirations.
McEnroe's quips on BBC
Following BBC presenter Guha's introduction, McEnroe quipped: 'Good morning by the way!' to which his fellow American Austin replied: 'Good morning Johnny Mac! He just got here 10 seconds ago. He always knows when to show up. How do you do that?' McEnroe said: 'You know, it's been about 35 years. I like being on time though. I hate being late.'
Guha then put a question to the seven-time Grand Slam champion: 'What happened to your Oasis t-shirt though?' The previous day, McEnroe had sported merchandise from the legendary British rock band following England's victory over Mexico, which secured their place in the quarter-finals.
McEnroe fired back: 'Well that was for England. This is black in mourning for our US team which bombed out. I fortunately didn't stay up to watch it cause I wanted to get prepped for this and get ready and do a couple of hours of studying this morning.'
Austin burst out laughing as she cut in with: 'Oh yeah right!' before McEnroe pressed on: 'What are you laughing at? But you know it was sort of disappointing to look and see 4-1 Belgium. Back to the drawing board. It reminds me, we need someone to win a major in the men's side. It's been 23 years since [Andy] Roddick won [the US Open]. We're pushing, we're praying. Taylor Fritz has a shot this year, absolutely!'
Commentary on tennis and soccer
He then remarked during his commentary on Jannik Sinner's clash against Jan-Lennard Struff: 'Thank god I went to bed before that. 4-1, to Belgium? Come on! We've got a ways to go. It's like the men's tour in the tennis, it's been 23 years, even worse in soccer, football. Oh boy. But it's all good, it's positive, it looks a great World Cup so that's the good news.'
