The basketball world was stunned on Tuesday morning when news broke that the New York Knicks were firing coach Tom Thibodeau after the team’s elimination in the Eastern Conference finals at the hands of the Indiana Pacers.
Despite leading the team to at least 47 regular season wins and a playoff series win in each of the past three seasons—a feat no Knicks coach had accomplished since Jeff Van Gundy in the 1990s—the franchise decided it was time to move on from Thibodeau after five seasons.
News traveled across the sports world quick, with Knicks superfans from all over chiming in with notes of shock, sadness, and thanks for Thibodeau. One of those superfans was former tennis pro John McEnroe, who happened to be in Paris calling the French Open when the news came out.
As a camera panned to former Knick Derrick Rose, who was in the crowd at Roland Garros, McEnroe expressed his disappointment in between points of a match between Carlos Alcaraz and Tommy Paul.
“That’s pretty harsh,” McEnroe said upon hearing the news. “That is a bummer.”
“It’s tough business,” agreed his brother Patrick, who was providing play-by-play for the match.
Noted New York Knicks fan John McEnroe gives some instant reaction to the Tom Thibodeau firing during the French Open 🎾🏀🎙️ pic.twitter.com/CxrZcjKDMi
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 3, 2025
Hopefully the Knicks will announce their next head coach during another tennis major, so we can continue to get McEnroe’s live reactions to the news.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as John McEnroe Had Bummed Out Live Reaction to Tom Thibodeau Firing at French Open.
