BBC under fire for ‘insensitive’ Bartoli remarks
John Inverdale incensed radio listeners before Bartoli beat German Sabine Lisicki when he asked if people thought her father told her when little that she was never going to be “a looker” like Maria Sharapova so would have to fight harder for success.
The BBC, Britain’s publicly funded broadcaster, apologised for the comments after a storm of protests on Twitter, admitting the remark was “insensitive”. Inverdale yesterday said he had written to apologise to Bartoli and told listeners ahead of the men’s final he used “a clumsy phrase” about Bartoli in trying to make a point that not all players need to be “6ft tall Amazonian athletes”.
