France's Marion Bartoli had a career breakthrough on Saturday by winning the Wimbledon Ladies Championship, her first Grand Slam title. As she was celebrating her victory, the BBC had to apologize for commentator John Inverdale who made some disparaging remarks about Bartoli before her win against Sabine Lisicki.
On BBC Radio, Inverdale who has covered many major events for the network including Wimbledon and the Olympics came out with the following comments in describing Baroli: "I just wonder if her dad, because he has obviously been the most influential person in her life, did say to her when she was 12, 13, 14 maybe, 'listen, you are never going to be, you know, a looker.'"
"'You are never going to be somebody like a Sharapova, you're never going to be 5ft 11, you're never going to be somebody with long legs, so you have to compensate for that."
Needless to say, there was an uproar and complaints flooded into the BBC through its website, e-mails and social media. A BBC spokesperson subsequently apologized.
"The BBC has apologized for the comment made before Saturday's final, as has John himself. John has also written a personal apology to Marion Bartoli."
Before Sunday's men's final, Inverdale went on the air and said, "I have apologized to Marion by letter if any offense was caused and I do hope we can leave the matter there."
For her part, Bartoli said she would not allow Inverdale's comments to spoil her victory. Probably best for Inverdale to keep the looker comments to himself.
