John McEnroe Under Fire for What He Said About Rafael Nadal
Not for the first time in his life did former tennis star turned broadcaster John McEnroe enrage the tennis community.
Ahead of the French Open final between No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz, McEnroe suggested both players would be favored to defeat prime Rafael Nadal at the tournament - despite Nadal having won the French Open 14 times in arguably the greatest era tennis has ever seen.
"These two guys to me, you look at those guys and if you took at look at them bringing their A-game right now and I'm saying Sinner and Alcaraz against Rafael Nadal on clay...you would make a serious argument with both guys that they would be favored to beat Nadal, at his best," he said.
"They would be favourite to beat Nadal at his best!"
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) June 8, 2025
John McEnroe believes you could make an argument for Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz beating Rafa Nadal at his best on clay.
Do you agree? ????#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/YuhSghehF4
Fans didn't take too kindly to McEnroe's claim.
"McEnroe saying Sinner and Alcaraz would both be favourites against Nadal at his best on clay is seriously outrageous.. Nadal not only won 14 French opens, but he did it while playing prime Federer and prime Djokovic.. he should be banned from talking tennis," one fan said.
"Take the mic away from this unc fgs…Rafa hasn’t won 14 RGs to be disrespected like this," offered another.
"I’m a Nole fan and after this comment, I have zero interest in anything else John McEnroe has to say. He cannot be taken seriously. Peak Nadal…..on clay…….the underdog?" questioned a third.
While he clearly believes they're elite players, McEnroe doesn't think either Sinner or Alcaraz will win the number of titles the likes of Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic achieved.
"No. Because I think that plateau is so high it's almost impossible because there's more depth in the game, bigger hitters, more things happen," he said.
As for the actual final, Sinner jumped out to a two-set lead before Alcaraz answered by winning the third set and currently leads in the fourth set.