Two days ago, Ivan Ljubicic gave an interview to the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger. The Croatian, who reached No. 3 in the world during his career and had a 2–7 head-to-head record against Rafael Nadal, became Roger Federer’s coach in 2015 alongside Severin Lüthi. He is now the Head of High-Level Tennis at the French Tennis Federation.
When asked specifically about the exceptional Roland-Garros final in which Carlos Alcaraz defeated Jannik Sinner, the Croatian seized the opportunity to respond to John McEnroe, who had claimed that the two finalists would have been favorites even against Rafa at his peak.
Tages-Anzeiger:
Many have called the Paris final one of the greatest in tennis history. Do you agree?
Ivan Ljubicic:
It was a good final. A very, very, very good final. And the drama was perfect, with the saved match points. But people always exaggerate. John McEnroe said Nadal wouldn’t have stood a chance against these guys. That’s nonsense. We haven’t even seen the best of Alcaraz and Sinner yet. They still have a lot of room to improve. The next generation is always better than the previous one. But I don’t think they’re ahead just yet. I sometimes watch matches from 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015—Roger and Rafa. That was already incredible tennis.
Source: Tages-Anzeiger
Johnny Mac is sijumply envious of Rafa, period.
I will admit, I like John better than Patrick, but I don’t like John. Their opinions are just that. Rafa in his prime, would have obliterated both of them!
I used to like McEnroe as a commentator, now I find he gets on my nerves. I don’t know why they think they have to talk through every moment of the game – how about letting you just enjoy the match without them yammering away. And half the time they’re not even talking about the match, it’s some other abstract thing or player….! And good on Ljubicic for calling out McEnroe on his nonsense. I like both Sinner and Alcaraz, but never of them at this point are even close to Rafa in his prime!!! How many tennis players, coaches, pundits etc. have stated that Rafa is the greatest ever to play on clay? Let’s see where some of these players are 20 years from now and then we can talk about it.
I personally like McEnroe as a commentator/pundit.
Every pundit, throughout the history of televised tennis has went on about how this previous player could have beaten this new player. If they were both playing at their peak. Blabla. A story as old as time itself.
I’m just thinking, yeah, John, Wharrever. Like I’ve thought about 100 times before about dozens of pundits.