US Open Commentators Under Fire for Taylor Swift’s Awkward Mention During Jannik Sinner’s Outing

It is the season of love! Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce won the hearts of fans after announcing their engagement in a heartwarming post on social media. The couple, which has been dating for quite some time now, finally announced the next step in their personal lives. Meanwhile, the news about Swift and Kelce’s engagement spread like wildfire across the world. Even the US Open commentators couldn’t keep calm and had a shocking reaction to it.

Taylor shared the news with a striking Instagram carousel: Kelce down on one knee in a flower-filled garden, close-ups of the custom ring, and candid shots of the two celebrating. Her caption—“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married”—lit up the internet, drawing millions of likes and instant pickup from major outlets. After all, the proposal itself carried all the hallmarks of a carefully planned moment.

Swift wore a Ralph Lauren silk dress as Kelce went down on one knee in the garden, with her song So High School playing in the background. On her hand was a custom Old Mine Brilliant Cut diamond ring, co-designed with Artifex/Kindred Lubeck, a detail that drew widespread attention once the images were released. Chiefs heiress Gracie Hunt called the engagement a “modern fairytale,” summing up the wave of congratulations that poured in from fans and public figures alike. Needless to say, the story was already unavoidable by the time play began at Flushing Meadows.

Earlier today, Jannik Sinner was playing in his first-round match against Vit Kopriva. While the Italian star had an easy outing, one particular incident caught the eyes of the tennis world. During an intense rally, the US Open commentators began discussing Swift’s engagement. “Taylor Swift is engaged. With, like a new record, or she is engaged to she’s gonna get married! So he said yes, way to go Taylor and Travis. Travis, way to go saying yes,” said one of the commentators, leaving fans in disbelief.

At a time when tennis broadcasting has faced massive criticism, this episode further raises question marks about the same. As a result, the commentators were heavily criticized by the fans for leaving aside the intense action and focusing on off-court topics during the match.

Fans slam US Open commentators after Taylor Swift’s mention during Jannik Sinner’s match

Even as Swift’s engagement news was discussed in the middle of Sinner’s match, this wasn’t the first time such an incident had happened. A fan recalled, “They had the sequence in 2024 during the final, these 2 commenters are awful! And someone needs to tell them to stop chatting, they are like broken chatbots,” as he slammed the poor commentary during the US Open. Additionally, the fan added a ‘feeling disgusting’ emoji, denoting how disappointed he was with the commentators.

Even as the commentators talked about Swift’s engagement, there was a cold reaction that followed. It left many stunned, notwithstanding how it was related to Sinner’s match. “The dead silence was an appropriate reaction,” wrote one fan, who slammed the poor commentary standards at the tournament. Meanwhile, during that conversation, Sinner and Kopriva were in the middle of an end-to-end rally. This enraged the fans further, as it served as a distraction during an intense exchange. One of the X users said, “You just wanted to talk about the engagement, but there’s no connection whatsoever to a fine exchange between two tennis players!” In the end, it resulted in a poor experience for the fans.

When Sinner’s match was underway, Aleksander Bublik’s match was also in progress on another court. One of the fans luckily missed the controversial moment during Sinner’s match as he was witnessing Bublik play. “Good thing im watching Bublik match,” the fan wrote, as he was fortunate to miss the shocking commentary during Sinner’s match. Lastly, another fan slammed the broadcast of the US Open, with the commentators making a mess of it. One of the fans commented, “Poor coverage,” while urging the organizers to come out with better broadcasting of the tournament.

Nonetheless, the controversy didn’t come between Sinner’s amazing display today. He took no time in dispatching the challenge of Kopriva in straight sets and entered the second round. Follow the US Open coverage on EssentiallySports’ Live Blog.