Mary Carillo

Mary Carillo (born March 15, 1957) is an American sportscaster and former professional tennis player. She is an analyst for Tennis on NBC and a reporter for NBC Olympic broadcasts.

Carillo played on the women's professional tennis circuit from 1977 to 1980. Her highest world rank was No. 33 in the Women's Tennis Association Rankings from January through March 1980. She then retired, citing knee injuries.

Carillo never won a major singles title, but did win the 1977 French Open mixed-doubles title with John McEnroe. Carillo and McEnroe made it to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon before being defeated, and later that year Carillo was a women's doubles quarterfinalist at the US Open.

Carillo began her television career working for USA Network from 1980 to 1987, PBS from 1981 to 1986 and MSG from 1981 to 1988. She then worked for ESPN from 1988 to 1997 and again from 2003 to 2010. She also worked on US Open coverage for CBS Sports from 1986 to 2014. In addition, Carillo worked as both a host and analyst on HBO's Wimbledon coverage from 1996 to 1999, and on Turner Sports' Wimbledon coverage from 2000 to 2002. In May 2003, Carillo joined NBC Sports as an analyst on its French Open and Wimbledon coverage, having made her debut as an analyst on NBC for the 1996 Family Circle Cup tennis event. She also does commentary on The Tennis Channel and appears regularly on The Tennis Podcast, hosted on Acast.

Carillo's candid and insightful commentary has earned her accolades throughout the industry, including the distinction of being called "the sport's top analyst" by Sports Illustrated. She is known for her deep voice, quick wit and pointed sense of humor. Like her longtime friend and fellow Douglaston, Queens, New York City native John McEnroe, Carillo is known for her colorful turns of phrase, and is credited with coining "Big Babe Tennis" to describe the era in women's tennis dominated by large, powerful players such as Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Carillo's unabashed and opinionated style of commentary has drawn criticism from several top players, including Andre Agassi, Serena and Venus Williams, and Maria Sharapova. Nevertheless, she was named Best Commentator by Tennis Magazine (1988–91), Best Commentator by World Tennis magazine (1986) and Broadcaster of the Year by the Women's Tennis Association (1981 and 1985).

As a result of the ATP's handling of domestic abuse allegations against Alexander Zverev, Carillo stepped down from her presenting role at the 2021 Laver Cup, in which Zverev played, saying she wanted no part in the "whitewashing of very serious allegations".

Carillo served as Olympic tennis analyst at both the Atlanta and Sydney Summer Olympics and as the skiing reporter for CBS's coverage at the Albertville, Lillehammer and Nagano Winter Olympics.

During NBC's coverage of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics she covered bobsled, luge and skeleton competitions. Her comment that men's doubles luge is "like a bar bet gone bad" was recognized as "line of the year" in many sports television columns.^[which?] In addition, Carillo's work co-hosting the 2002 Closing Ceremony alongside Dan Hicks earned her critical acclaim.^{[citation needed]}