"He says things knowing they'll be controversial," Nastase responds to McEnroe after his comments about Nadal

© AFP

Adrien Guyot

le 10/06/2025 à 15h34

2 min to read

Alcaraz McEnroe Nadal Nastase Sinner

On Sunday, Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz delivered an exceptional spectacle in the Roland-Garros final. After a match of rare intensity, the two men battled for the title at Porte d’Auteuil and fought a memorable 5-hour, 29-minute duel before settling it in the fifth-set super tie-break.

In the end, it was the Spaniard, the defending champion, who prevailed in a nail-biting finish (4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6) after saving three match points on his serve in the fourth set.

The match had many twists and turns before reaching a new dimension with an insane scenario, where the two players remained neck-and-neck until the very end.

After the match, John McEnroe made a notable statement for TNT Sports, claiming that at their peak, the current world’s top two players would have been favorites against Rafael Nadal on clay when he was at his best on the surface. Another former world No. 1, Ilie Nastase, responded to the American.

"McEnroe says things knowing they’ll be controversial. To answer him, I can simply say I disagree with him. I think it’s impossible and pointless to compare players.

Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic were all at the top of tennis for a long time—they were the best—so I don’t see why we’d compare them. Before them, there were Sampras, Edberg, and other great players.

The champions of their era were the best, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to compare them with the legends of today, because things evolve very quickly in tennis.

Training conditions, gameplay, recovery, nutrition, rackets, balls… Everything is different," the 78-year-old Romanian told Golazo in recent hours.