Renowned tennis commentator Mary Carillo says she couldn’t work at this year’s Laver Cup due to concerns over restrictions which would have been in place regarding allegations made towards Alexander Zverev.
Carillo, who is a former tennis player that won the 1977 French Open mixed doubles title alongside John McEnroe, believes she wouldn’t have been allowed to properly address those claims. In recent months Zverev has been accused of domestic violence by his former partner Olga Sharypova. In two separate interviews published by The Racquet Magazine and Slate Sharypova says she was mentally and physically abused, which at one stage drove her to a suicide attempt. Zverev has repeatedly stated that those allegations against him are untrue.
News of Carillo’s decision to not work for the Laver Cup started to surface last week when she issued a brief statement to journalist Ben Rothenberg who posted it on social media. Rothenberg was the person who interviewed Zverev’s ex-partner.
“I was not told that I couldn’t speak about Zverev at the Laver Cup. That conversation did not happen,” Carillo told the Behind The Racquet podcast.
“I went to the Laver Cup a couple years ago in Geneva. I loved it. I love the event, I was the MC for the Gala.”
Leading up to this year’s competition, which features players from Europe taking on those from the rest of the world, the veteran commentator questioned how organisers plan to cover the Zverev abuse allegations. At the time Carillo was set to work at the event but no contract had been signed.
“I was getting a lot of emails from the executive producer. I wrote back and said how are you handling the Alexander Zverev allegations? Obviously, one of the gravest parts of the allegations happened at the Laver Cup in Geneva,” she said in reference to Sharypova’s suicide attempted which she claimed occurred there.
“She put me in tough with one of the big Laver Cup guys and I had a long conversation with him about my hesitance. I was sure how handstrung I would be by tennis Australia.”
During what she describes as an informal conversation, Carillo said she spoke to a top Laver Cup official and questioned the tournament’s handling of the incident. Although she said the person she spoke to replied ‘I wasn’t there’ multiple times when quizzed about Sharypova’s call for help during the 2019 tournament. As for why Zverev played, they implied entrants are determined by ranking which isn’t completely accurate. Only three members of each team qualify based on their ranking and the other three are picked by the team captains.
The Laver Cup is owned by TEAM8, a management company founded by Roger Federer, Tennis Australia and the USTA. The media operations are overseen by Tennis Australia with it’s CEO Craig Tiley also being one of the directors of Trident8. Trident8 was created to help run the Laver Cup.
Carillo describes Tennis Australia’s approach to the tournament as ‘corporate’ and revealed that she was once spoken to for making a remark about Nick Kyrgios whilst commentating.
“I think with Tennis Australia it is pretty well known that it is a blue sky network. You work for them and it’s kind of about a corporate deal which I didn’t understand honestly until I got there (to Geneva),” she explained.
“I made a comment that I thought was kinda stuff I say all the time. Kyrgios was playing great and the crowd was eating the dude up. I said this is a perfect outlet for him because he’s not fit enough to win majors.’
“I got spoken to about that. I thought it was obvious and by the way if you said to Nick Kyrgios are you fit enough to win a major? He wouldn’t argue, like no.’
“I also had my issues at ESPN, Tennis Channel many times.”
It isn’t just the Laver Cup where the former top 50 player has experienced challenges as a commentator on the sport. She also speaks about one experience during the Tokyo Olympics where a segment covering Zverev’s allegations on American network NBC was produced.
“One of the producers wrote back to me and said we will do a studio segment (on Zverev) after the first set. After the first set this really toothless studio segment happened and I’m like ‘wait is that it?’ Carillo recounted.
“God bless Darren Cahill because at the beginning of the second set, I had to say something that wasn’t even close to what had to be said in my opinion. Brad (Gilbert) jumped in and we both excoriated the ATP.’
“The rest of the match I didn’t have to mention it again but that kinda stuff happens all the time.”
Carillo says there have been incidents with other players apart from Zverev which has led to her not calling their matches. One example being Tennys Sandren’s run at the 2018 Australian Open. She wanted to speak about the tennis player’s political views which generated some attention among fans but felt she was unable to do so and therefore refused to cover his match.
As for Zverev, Carillo has publicly said for the first time she believes the allegations made against him are true.
“I don’t want to be part of the silence. If you’re quiet it suggests you’re complicit. There wasn’t a real investigation in Geneva, it’s crazy.” She concluded.
