{"id":1012265,"date":"2026-06-08T01:45:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1012265\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T01:45:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T01:45:23","slug":"john-mcenroe-asks-awkward-wimbledon-question-to-tim-henman-on-live-tv-in-light-hearted-exchange","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1012265\/","title":{"rendered":"John McEnroe asks awkward Wimbledon question to Tim Henman on live TV in light-hearted exchange"},"content":{"rendered":"

John McEnroe stumped Tim Henman on live TV when he asked if French Open’s Women’s Singles finalist Maja Chwalinska should get a wildcard spot at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

The Pole shocked the world by making the final of the French Open<\/a> only to lose to Mirra Andreeva<\/a> in Paris.<\/p>\n

\"PARIS,<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Despite missing out on the top prize, the Pole has propelled herself up the rankings<\/p>\n

And she has incredibly moved from 114 to number 21 in the world.<\/p>\n

However, as it stands, she will still have to go through qualifying as the entry standards for Wimbledon<\/a> were cut off six weeks ago.<\/p>\n

At that point, she was too far down the rankings to be eligible for a wildcard pick.<\/p>\n

But after a brilliant two weeks in France, the noise around Chwalinska is growing, with a wildcard pick possible.<\/p>\n

Read more on sport<\/p>\n

The All England Club decide on who gets those spots, and Henman happens to sit on the board.<\/p>\n

So, he’ll be playing a part in Chwalinska potentially getting a wildcard spot.<\/p>\n

And on TNT’s live coverage, McEnroe posed the question to Chwalinska.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cSo say you\u2019re [going to be No. 21 tomorrow], we\u2019ll throw it out. <\/p>\n

“So suddenly, does that mean you\u2019re straight in Wimbledon or the cutoff was six weeks ago, so you would need a wildcard if you were choosing to play Wimbledon?”<\/p>\n

She responded: \u201cYeah, exactly. It was too late, I was already No. 114 I think when there was a cut-off.”<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

Henman took it all in good spirits and refused to rule anything outCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

This prompted McEnroe to directly question Henman.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I have just the person to talk to over here, he\u2019s on the Wimbledon committee and I\u2019m thinking that she would be absolutely, Tim, perfect, after what she\u2019s accomplished here. <\/p>\n

“A fellow left-hander, to get a wildcard, and you could be the first to say so, on TNT.”<\/p>\n

In response, Henman looked away and pretended to leave the studio.<\/p>\n

It was all very much good fun and nothing actually too serious.<\/p>\n

In response, he said: \u201cI couldn\u2019t agree with you more, John.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

3<\/p>\n

The ranking cut-off for Wimbledon wildcard picks has passedCredit: Getty<\/p>\n

And before Chwalinska left, she made it clear that a wildcard at Wimbledon isn’t on her mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t expect it [a wildcard], but yeah, I mean, I’ll see. I will treat it as a challenge.”<\/p>\n

Wildcard Wimbledon rules<\/p>\n

Initial wildcards for Wimbledon this year will be announced on Monday, June 15.<\/p>\n

A wild card is given to a player that doesn’t rank high enough to qualify automatically, but the All England Club decide are worthy of automatic entry.<\/p>\n

It states on the website that most wildcards are handed out to increase British interest or based on previous Wimbledon performances.<\/p>\n

So, that would more than likely count against Chwalinska, even if she does have McEnroe in her corner.<\/p>\n

Read More on talkSPORT<\/p>\n

But after making it to the French Open final, there will be a lot of clamour for her to get a wildcard spot.<\/p>\n

And if she did, the Pole would have chance to make history as there has never been a Wimbledon winner in the Women’s Singles as a wildcard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John McEnroe stumped Tim Henman on live TV when he asked if French Open’s Women’s Singles finalist Maja…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1012266,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4105],"tags":[5066,13793,280385,79,1068,48674,16,15,5068,280386],"class_list":["post-1012265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-french-open","tag-john-mcenroe","tag-maja-chawlinska","tag-sports","tag-tennis","tag-tim-henman","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-wildcards"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116711963377090190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1012266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}