Clare Balding admitted to breaking one of the golden rules of broadcasting while live on air for the BBC at Wimbledon. The Beeb host said that she had a “favourite” at the tournament she was covering, as coverage recapped the day’s earlier matches. Having just witnessed the station switch from tennis on BBC1 to the World Cup, Balding had a message for those who remained on BBC2 to witness events at SW19.
Balding talked over how Flavio Cobolli needed two days to beat Mariano Navone, and after his colourful on-court interview, she described the Italian as one of her “favourites”. This came after he bizarrely claimed he would “hit” his dad and struggled to stay still while being interviewed on court.
“I just wanna break something now,” he joked. “I cannot stop [moving his feet]. You see? I need to hit something! I think I will hit my dad now.”
When probed further on the comment, Cobolli explained: “For sure. The first person that I will hit. I still don’t know with what. You’ll see tomorrow if he has a black thing on the face.”
After the BBC played that clip, Balding had a big smile on her face and said: “I know we’re not meant to have favourites but he is one of my favourites. I love Flavio Cobolli. Although he clearly now needs a bit of anger management training.”
Cobolli’s father, Stefano, is a former professional player who has since transitioned into coaching, working with his son since Flavio turned 17.
Frequent channel changes, which occurred again as England’s World Cup knockout match against DR Congo took top billing on Wednesday, have also been scrutinised.
While even during coverage of the football, the BBC faced complaints as their studio took time out of covering Norway’s 2-1 win over Ivory Coast to speak about Williams’ match against Maya Joint.
Young Aussie Joint took the match in three sets, which may well end Williams’ singles career for good, while Balding’s favourite Cobolli surged into the second round.