John McEnroe claimed he was a better prospect than Frances Tiafoe seven years ago but now he’s ranked 97th in the world

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John McEnroe was backing other young ATP players over his compatriot Frances Tiafoe.

McEnroe is a multiple Grand Slam champion, and knows what it takes to win the biggest titles in the sport.

The former world number one also has experience of mentoring younger players, with McEnroe captaining at the Laver Cup for seven years before handing over the baton to Andre Agassi this year.

This includes McEnroe captaining Tiafoe as part of Team World for the first time in 2017.

John McEnroe claimed that Borna Coric was ahead of Frances Tiafoe in 2018

At just 20-years-old, Tiafoe had already won an ATP title earlier that year at the Delray Beach Open.

The American was one of many young players looking to breakthrough at the time, with ‘the big three’ of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer still dominating the Grand Slam tournaments.

When speaking to Eurosport in 2018, McEnroe named six players that he thought could challenge for Grand Slam titles including Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov, Borna Coric and Kyle Edmund.

“It’s so wide open for that Next Gen,” said McEnroe. “Who’s going to step up and win multiple majors. We’re going to finally get an answer in the next 24 months for me. For sure.”

He continued, “It depends at what age we’re starting from. Edmund, is he too old at 23? Zverev would be the logical choice, even though he’s choked in the majors so far. I like Shapovalov a lot, I think he’s going to do big things. Coric, if he stays healthy on a slower court, he remains dangerous.”

However, when McEnroe was asked about young American talent Tiafoe, he responded by saying that he was a few steps behind the players that he had previously mentioned.

McEnroe went onto add Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stefanos Tsitsipas into his mix of potential future major champions.

“I think he’s behind those guys,” McEnroe said about Tiafoe. “Another Canadian Auger-Aliassime – this young kid, he’s going to be really good. I like the young Tsitsipas, the young Greek player – he’s a tough customer.”

British player Edmund was the first of these players to reach a major semi-final, but after years of injury problems is now the world number 491 and mainly plays on the lower level ITF Tour.

Tsitsipas and Zverev have reached five Grand Slam finals between them, but have been unable to cross the line just yet.

Both players have been a set away from an elusive major title, with Zverev also losing in the Australian Open final back in January.

Coric, who had already beaten Nadal and Andy Murray in 2018, is the only one of the players that McEnroe mentioned that has not reached a Grand Slam semi-final, while Tiafoe has.

How do Borna Coric and Frances Tiafoe’s careers compare?

There are some similarities between the careers of Coric and Tiafoe, with both players winning three ATP titles.

It is actually Coric who has won the bigger of those titles, after claiming the Cincinnati Masters in 2022.

However, it has not been such a successful time for Coric since then, having struggled with injuries and drops in form, causing him to fall to as low as world number 145 earlier this year.

Coric has been able to find some form on the ATP Challenger circuit in recent weeks, and is now back in the the top 100.

Tiafoe is exactly 80 ranking places above Coric, but was recently left disappointed after being beaten by the resurgent American Jenson Brooksby in the final of the ATP tournament in Houston.

The American has had mixed results over the past few years, but Tiafoe has showed up for the US Open after reaching two semi-finals.

Tiafoe and Coric have played each other three times, with the former getting the better of the head-to-head with victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.