John McEnroe slapped down as Roger Federer's ex-coach flies off the handle - 'Nonsense'

Roger Federer's former coach Ivan Ljubicic has hit out at John McEnroe for his "nonsense" comments about Rafael Nadal during coverage of the French Open last month. The American tennis legend controversially claimed after Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz's titanic clash at Roland-Garros that either of the two rising stars could have beaten the 22-time Grand Slam winner in his prime on the Parisian clay.

Sinner and Alcaraz, who are spearheading the new era in tennis, had just produced one of the greatest Grand Slam finals of all time. The Spaniard came from two sets behind and saved three Championship points on his way to clinching a remarkable second French Open title - his fifth major in total. The dynamite duo met again in the Wimbledon final earlier this month, where Sinner exacted revenge on the 22-year-old Spaniard to take his own Grand Slam tally to four.

Reflecting on Alcaraz's victory in Paris, McEnroe said on TNT Sports: "You took a look at them bringing their A-game right now - I'm saying Sinner and Alcaraz against Nadal on clay - you would make a serious argument with both guys that they would be favoured to beat Nadal, at his best.

"Do I think they're going to reach 20, 24 titles either one of them? No. Because I think that plateau is so hard it's almost impossible; there's more depth in the game, bigger hitters, and more things happen.

"But these two guys right now, it's like when you watch the NBA and you say nobody could be better than Michael Jordan. The tennis level right now is higher than I've ever seen."

The seven-time Grand Slam winner's comments were seen by some as disrespectful towards Nadal, who claimed an astonishing 14 French Open titles before his retirement last year. One such person was former tennis player Ljubicic, who coached Nadal's long-time rival Federer between 2016 and 2022.

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The Croatian said: "It was a very, very, very good final. And the drama was perfect with the match points saved. But people always exaggerate.

"John McEnroe said Nadal wouldn't have stood a chance against these boys. That's nonsense. We haven't seen the best of Alcaraz and Sinner yet. They still have a lot of room for improvement.

"But I don't think they're ahead just yet. I sometimes watch matches from 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015 [between] Roger and Rafa. That was already incredible tennis."

McEnroe referenced his French Open comments during Alcaraz's Wimbledon quarter-final win over Cameron Norrie and seemed to amend his original take. He said on BBC One: "I made a comment during the French [Open] where I said these guys [Alcaraz and Sinner] would have a shot... I didn't say they would beat Nadal every time.

"I said the fact that you would think these two players would actually go onto the court really believing they could do it - with Nadal in his prime - it shows you how much the level of the game has changed even in a couple of years."