--- title: Olympics: Andy Murray Corrects John Inverdale Sexist Mistake description: U.K. tennis champion Andy Murray corrected BBC's John Inverdale, saying "Venus and Serena [Williams] have won four each” canonical: https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/ author: Tara John article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-15T12:05:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:58:39.119Z article:section: Sports og:title: Olympics: Andy Murray Corrects John Inverdale Sexist Mistake og:description: U.K. tennis champion Andy Murray corrected BBC's John Inverdale, saying "Venus and Serena [Williams] have won four each” og:url: https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd96ac37adeee417/6988a25897cdff3a666ad717/andy-murray-john-inverdale.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Andy Murray in action during his match with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the Men's singles final at Olympic Tennis Centre on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Olympics: Andy Murray Corrects John Inverdale Sexist Mistake twitter:description: U.K. tennis champion Andy Murray corrected BBC's John Inverdale, saying "Venus and Serena [Williams] have won four each” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd96ac37adeee417/6988a25897cdff3a666ad717/andy-murray-john-inverdale.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Andy Murray Has the Perfect Response After BBC Presenter Forgets Women Play Tennis Too by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Aug 15, 2016 12:05 PM CUT  Andy Murray in action during his match with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the Men's singles final at Olympic Tennis Centre on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Andy Murray in action during his match with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the Men's singles final at Olympic Tennis Centre on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.Amin Mohammad Jamal—Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Aug 15, 2016 12:05 PM CUT U.K. tennis champion [Andy Murray](http://time.com/4322678/andy-murray-coach-mauresmo/ "undefined") had a prompt response when a BBC presenter mistakenly called him the “first person to win two gold medals” for tennis. “Well, to defend the singles title” Murray replied in an interview with John Inverdale after defeating Argentina’s Juan Martín del Potro on Sunday. “Venus and Serena \[Williams\] have won about four each.” As he was quick to note, the victory has made him the first player in history to win two Olympic singles medals back-to-back — but not the first to win two gold medals in tennis. His comment has since won praise from British lawmaker Jess Phillips, and Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon: > [](https://twitter.com/jessphillips/status/765119275820613632) > [](https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/765077103058583552) Inverdale has made a series of verbal blunders over the years. After Marion Bartoli’s 2013 Wimbledon victory, he told [Radio 5 listeners](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23214821 "undefined"): “Do you think Bartoli’s dad told her when she was little ‘You’re never going to be a looker? You’ll never be a \[Maria\] Sharapova, so you have to be scrappy and fight.” [In 2016](https://www.theguardian.com/media/mediamonkeyblog/2016/jul/11/bbcs-john-inverdale-likens-wimbledon-tennis-star-to-jungle-book-character "undefined"), he said Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios— who is of mixed heritage— was like “a character from the Jungle Book.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/"},"headline":"Andy Murray Has the Perfect Response After BBC Presenter Forgets Women Play Tennis Too","datePublished":"2016-08-15T12:05:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:58:39.119Z","description":"U.K. tennis champion Andy Murray corrected BBC's John Inverdale, saying \"Venus and Serena [Williams] have won four each”","url":"https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/","keywords":["2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics","Summer Olympics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd96ac37adeee417/6988a25897cdff3a666ad717/andy-murray-john-inverdale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfd96ac37adeee417/6988a25897cdff3a666ad717/andy-murray-john-inverdale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Andy Murray in action during his match with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the Men's singles final at Olympic Tennis Centre on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.","caption":"Andy Murray in action during his match with Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in the Men's singles final at Olympic Tennis Centre on August 14, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.","creditText":"Amin Mohammad Jamal—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-rio-de-janiero-olympics/","name":"2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4452125/andy-murray-john-inverdale-olympics/","name":"Andy Murray Has the Perfect Response After BBC Presenter Forgets Women Play Tennis Too"}}]}] ```