John McEnroe is not ready to state that the debate regarding the greatest tennis player of all time is over.
For several years the tennis world has discussed who should be called the best in the sport’s history between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
On one of the rare occasions across all sports the trio were all playing in the same era, and they pushed one another to their limit while always raising the bar by winning multiple championships.
But after Djokovic claimed impressive records such as having the most number of Grand Slams and with Federer retired and Nadal closing in on the end of his career, some consider the debate for the greatest player to be over.
But McEnroe, who has watched each player closely for a number of years, makes an argument for that not being the case just yet.
John McEnroe discusses if Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic is the better grass court player
Nadal, Federer and Djokovic share 66 Grand Slam titles between them as they dominated tennis for the better part of 20 years.
They pushed each other to raise their level and in the process, they have set plenty of new records in the game.
Djokovic now has many of tennis’ most significant records, but McEnroe does not think the chapter of him being considered the greatest is closed and also mentioned if he thinks the Serbian is a better grass court player than Federer was.
“I don’t think we can totally put it to bed. Look at Nadal on clay. I think Roger at his peak would have beaten Djokovic more often than not on grass. I think his game was better,” the American told BBC Sounds.
“I think Novak was the best hard court player of all time. I think overall, in terms of his stats, he’s the best of all time. No question about it. But those other two weren’t too shabby either!”
What are some of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic’s grass court records?
Federer set the standard in the game by dominating the sport for half a decade during the 2000s. He set a record for most consecutive weeks as the World number one with 237.
He equalled Bjorn Borg’s record of the most consecutive titles won at Wimbledon with five, and set a new record for most Grand Slams with 20 before both Nadal and Djokovic surpassed him.
His grass court record is simply staggering. The 42-year-old won 197 matches on the surface throughout his career and lost just 30.
The tennis legend has won an open record 19 grass court titles, eight of which have come at Wimbledon, while also having the longest grass court winning streak in the Open Era with 65.
From 2011, Djokovic started to begin carving out a legacy as an all-time great player and his grass court record is a huge reason for that. He has claimed 125 wins on the surface and has suffered just 25 defeats.
He has seven Wimbledon titles and won four straight before Carlos Alcaraz ended his streak in 2023, before losing to the Spaniard for the second successive year at SW19 this past Sunday.
Receive exclusive tennis news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
