US Open: Circumstances 'don't matter in 20 years' in Nadal, Djokovic, Federer GOAT debate - John McEnroe

ByEurosport

Published 29/08/2022 at 19:10 GMT

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are both absent from the 2022 US Open. Federer is out with a long-term knee injury while Djokovic's vaccination status means he cannot enter USA. John McEnroe does not believe people will think too much about the Grand Slams the Big Three have missed out on in their careers when discussing who the greatest men's player of all time is.

John McEnroe says tennis fans will not remember the circumstances players have faced during their careers when discussing who the greatest tennis player of all time is.

Rafael Nadal currently leads the Big Three on 22 Grand Slam titles, one more than Novak Djokovic on 21 and two more than Roger Federer (20).

Djokovic missed this year's Australian Open due to not being vaccinated for Covid-19, which also sees him miss out on the US Open, lessening his chances of catching up with Nadal in the final years of his decorated tennis career. Federer, meanwhile, is continuing his comeback from knee surgery.

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Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters said on Eurosport: "It’s been such a focus for a few years, to see who can take that lead and who can catch up with Roger.

"I think no one expected Rafa [Nadal] to do so well in Australia, I don’t think he expected it, but for him it’s just all a matter of being able to stay healthy and making sure that ab muscle is fully recovered to last seven matches.

"But it's very interesting that unfortunately two of these three guys aren’t going to be here this year."

McEnroe, who is part of Eurosport's coverage at Flushing Meadows, says the only question that will be asked when the Big Three are retired is who won the most Grand Slam titles.

He replied: "It doesn’t matter in 20 years, they’re going to ask who’s won the most? It’s not ‘well Djokovic wasn’t vaccinated so he couldn’t play'.

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Barbara Schett said: "But he could have won these two he couldn’t play."

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McEnroe responded: "Yeah but so could Rafa. He hasn't played [the US Open] for three years because he’s been injured and he didn’t defend his Wimbledon title a couple of times. And you can go down the list.

"Roger [Federer] could have won this had he been healthy. We [McEnroe and Clijsters] could have been contenders and won more! Woulda, coulda, shoulda. In his wildest dreams Djokovic didn’t think 'I’m going to get thrown out of Australia, Rafa having not played for six months, is going to win it.’ The French Open we can understand.

"Rafa’s going to be No.1 in the world at the end of the year whether he wins this or not."

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