Wimbledon commentator slammed by Ben Shelton's girlfriend Trinity Rodman

News.com.au

7 hours ago

Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka swept into the Wimbledon semi-finals overnight Wednesday - as the BBC broadcasters copped as much heat as both of their opponents.
The commentator bashing began when Trinity Rodman, the daughter of NBA icon Dennis Rodman and current girlfriend of men's tennis player Ben Shelton, took issue with the BBC's coverage of her boyfriend's match.
Trinity, who is a star in her own right as one of the core players of the US women's soccer team, took to social media to blast the BBC for mentioning her dad on television.
Trinity has an estranged relationship with her enigmatic father, who won three championships with Michael Jordan's Bulls in the late 1990s, and wanted the focus to be on Shelton.
'For Ben's matches he has his family there as his support system, which includes his dad,' she wrote.
'My dad's not even in MY life.
'No need to bring him up during HIS matches when I don't even want him talked about during mine. It's him and his loved ones' moment. Thank you.'
She also trashed BBC commentator Andrew Castle, who repeatedly got her name wrong during Shelton's round of 16 win that set up a quarterfinal against Jannik Sinner.
'For those who don't know... my name is TRINITY not Tiffany,' she added.
But it didn't stop there.
World number one Sabalenka corrected a BBC presenter during her on-court interview after overcoming Laura Siegemund 4-6 6-2 6-4 in an awkward match on Centre Court.
The interview was just as awkward as Sabalenka called out the BBC's Lee McKenzie for attempting to put words in her mouth.
Siegemund, 37, has a quirky game style that she has admitted to being 'annoying' for opponents.
With this having been referenced in Sabalenka's previous press conference, McKenzie brought it up on court, claiming that she had called Siegemund's game 'annoying'.
But the Belarusian, 27, quickly interjected, insisting: 'I didn't say that. No, no no - I didn't say that.
'They asked the question... she said that she has an annoying game.'
Sabalenka then wagged her finger as she added: 'I didn't say that, just to make that clear.'
When McKenzie pointed out that it was in a 'complimentary way' - Sabalenka went on: 'It's not like it's an annoying game, it's a smart game.
'She's really making everyone work against her and going into the match against her you know that you have to work for every point.'
Sabalenka fought back from the brink of a shock exit to reach the semi-finals.
She twice trailed by a break in the final set on Centre Court and was two games away from crashing out before staging a dramatic revival to win in two hours and 54 minutes of unrelenting tension.
The 27-year-old top seed is through to the Wimbledon semi-finals for the third time after losing at that stage in 2021 and 2023.
Legend's daughter steals show at Wimbledon
VIEW GALLERY
Beaten in the Australian and French Open finals this year after winning the US Open in 2024, Sabalenka remains on course to reach a fourth successive Grand Slam title match.
Sabalenka remains the only one of the top six women's seeds still standing at the tournament after two weeks of shocks.
In the semi-finals, the Belarusian will face American 13th seed Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Russian world number 50 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 7-6 (11/9).
Anisimova took an eight-month break from tennis in 2023 after suffering with depression brought on by the scrutiny and expectations that came from her run to the French Open semi-finals aged just 17.
'It's been an extraordinary year for me. So many highs. It's been such a ride,' she said.
Alcaraz finally shows his best form
Alcaraz needed just 99 minutes to win 6-2 6-3 6-3 in his most commanding performance in this year's tournament.
The Spanish second seed dropped four sets in a series of scrappy displays during his run to the last eight.
But Alcaraz was back to his imperious best in the quarter-finals, blasting 39 winners against the overwhelmed British world number 61, setting up a last-four clash with American fifth seed Taylor Fritz.
Alcaraz is on a career-best 23-match winning run since losing to Holger Rune in the Barcelona final in April - a superb streak which has brought him titles at the French Open, the Rome Masters and Monte Carlo.
The Spaniard, who vanquished Novak Djokovic in the last two Wimbledon finals, has won 34 of his 37 Tour-level matches on grass, while his last defeat at the All England Club came against Jannik Sinner in the fourth round in 2022.
Wimbledon's controversial line technology system malfunctioned again as Fritz beat Russian 17th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-6 (7/4) to reach his first Wimbledon semi-final.
Swedish umpire Louise Azemar Engzell had to stop a point in the opening game of the fourth set on Court One when 'fault' was incorrectly called after a Fritz forehand landed well inside the baseline.
The call of 'fault', rather than 'out', and positioning of the ball suggested the system was still tracking Fritz's serve as opposed to a rally and the point had to be replayed.
Tournament organisers were forced to apologise and make a change to the system to avoid further issues after a major error in Sonay Kartal's fourth-round defeat to Pavlyuchenkova in the women's draw.
A fully automated system has replaced human line judges at Wimbledon for the first time this year, in line with the Australian Open and the US Open.
Tournament organisers claimed the system had failed to reset because the ball from Fritz's first serve was still being retrieved when he started lining up his second.
'The player's service motion began while the BBG (ball boy or girl) was still crossing the net and therefore the system didn't recognise the start of the point,' an All England Club statement said.
'As such the chair umpire instructed the point be replayed.'