BBC under fire over ‘biased’ Wimbledon final coverage with player left in tears

The BBC have come under fire from fans for their allegedly ‘biased commentary’ during Saturday’s women’s singles final at Wimbledon. Olympic silver medalist Marketa Vondrousova defeated Ons Jabeur 6-4, 6-4 to claim her first major title.

Meanwhile, Jabeur has now lost back-to-back finals at SW19 after missing out on the title last year against Elena Rybakina. The Tunisian player burst into tears after the game and struggled to get her words out during an emotional post-match interview.

But some fans believe the BBC’s coverage was ‘biased’ towards Jabeur during Saturday’s final and have let their thoughts be known on social media.

One fan (@janeashw) tweeted: “@BBCSport been watching BBC tennis coverage for over 40 years. This year has been atrocious. The bias to Ons Jabeur today from the whole team was so disrespectful to the Marketa (yes she has a first name too).”

Another (@JJS74) wrote: “The @bbcsport bias in favour of Ons Jabeur is appalling. On the other side of the net is an unseeded player who, this time last year had her wrist in bandage after two surgeries, who has no sponsors…this obsession with first Arab first African is becoming nauseous.”

A third (@cornsie73) said: “Poetic justice that Vondrousova wins that final in straight sets…. The BBC hardly mentioned her in build-up, the bias towards Jabeur was cringeworthy.”

As a fourth (@cjcw22)added: “So glad Vondrousova won that final just to sicken the Wimbledon crowd. No harm to Jabeur, I like her, but the crowd and BBC bias in favour of Jabeur has been unbearable.”

Jabeur said afterwards, through tears: “I will try to speak because this is very tough. I think this is the most painful loss of my career. First I want to say congratulations to Marketa and her team for this amazing tournament.

“You are an amazing player and I know you had a lot of injuries so I am very happy for you. It is going to be a tough day today for me. I am not going to give up and I will come back stronger. It’s an amazing tournament for me, I want to thank my team for always believing in me.

“We are going to make it one day, I promise you. Thank you, guys, for coming, thank you for cheering for me. I really appreciate your support, it has been a tough journey but that is tennis. I promise I’ll come back one day and win this tournament.”