John McEnroe jokingly threatened to sue anybody who used his famous “you cannot be serious” catchphrase – and then it was repeated by BBC commentator Andrew Castle. The humerous exchange happened live on BBC 1 as Jannik Sinner was taking on Pedro Martinez.
Sinner thrashed his Spanish opponent 6-1 in the first set. Martinez held serve at the start of the second set but then made an error when letting one of Sinner’s delivery go and it was called in after bouncing off the service line.
“He decided to let it go but it wasn’t called out. You could see a little chalk fly up,” McEnroe said. BBC commentator Castle replied: “You should have trademarked that.”
McEnroe famously ranted at the umpire during his 1981 Wimbledon match against Tom Gullikson, complaining “you cannot be serious” and “the chalk flew up”, in a moment that has gone down in tennis folklore.
“I have trademarked ‘you cannot be serious’, I am still waiting to get some money,” McEnroe confirmed
Castle quizzed: “In the States you did that?” And McEnroe clarified: “I believe it was worldwide.”
Castle then said: “So if anybody says that you can sue them?” And McEnroe joked: “I’ll go ‘that’ll be two dollars’.”
Castle then broke the trademark live on air, declaring: “You cannot be serious! Here’s a dollar fifty.”
Although McEnroe claims he could sue anybody that copies his catchphrase, the 66-year-old has not seen any financial benefits from it.
“Nobody has given me anything,” he explained. “I don’t know what that patent does.”
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