Former Australian doubles champion Rennae Stubbs has unwittingly found herself caught up in an embarrassing Ash Barty storm.
With Alex de Minaur making staggering inroads at Roland Garros, the stat that has been constantly pedalled after his shock win over Daniil Medvedev is that de Minaur is “the first Aussie to make the quarter finals” at the French Open since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
Of course, the glaring omission here — that was made by the international broadcaster Tennis Channel as well as various others — is the word ‘male’.
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And that’s when Stubbs stepped in.
Stubbs is quite vocal on social media and she gave the broadcaster a blast over the error on their graphic.
“HUGE congrats to @alexdeminaur so happy for you mate,” Stubbs said on X (formerly Twitter).
“BUT @TennisChannel, Demon is the first Aussie MALE since Hewitt. If u recall @bambamsam30 did this a whole lot of times after 2004. Like finals, semis etc. So can we please get those graphics right. Thanks.”
@bambamsam30 is referring to former top-10 star and No.1 doubles champ Sam Stosur, who made the French Open final in 2010 and also won the doubles final at Roland Garros in 2006.
Of course, while calling out the blunder, Stubbs in turn was roasted for not mentioning Barty, who the singles French Open final in 2019.
Fans were quick to let her know of her oversight before Stubbs later added, “Oh yeah that,” with a laughing emoji.
However, it was a case of too little too late, given she was being critical of another outlet.
“Got to love the irony of you chastising an error made in a technical studio for forgetting to add “male”, while you forgot about Ash Barty … Calm the farm. An innocent mistake …” one fan wrote.
And another said: “They were clearly referring to men. Its a different sport after all so understandable. You on the other hand were referring to men and women and somehow forgot Ash. Ironic isn’t it.”
Although Stubbs originally forgot Barty, others didn’t and thought it was an unacceptable error.
“I’m embarrassed to say I watched the commentators on @Channel9 say De Minaur will be the first Aussie since Hewitt to reach the final 16, & I didn’t blink. Of course, there was Ash Barty in 2019 WHO WON & Sam Stosur in 2010 in the final, but hey, just girls so they don’t count?” one fan fumed.
“@BrentonSpeed (sports commentator) you’ve just mentioned twice how this is the first time we can support an Aussie this far into the French Open for 17 years. Pretty sure Ash Barty and your colleague Sam Stosur are Aussies,” another said.