“Normally, you’d go with Rafa but Novak this year has been…” says John McEnroe

“Normally, you’d go with Rafa but Novak this year has been…” says John McEnroe
John McEnroe (left) and Novak Djokovic

There is no denying the fact that Novak Djokovic is going through arguably the best season of his career so far. Barring that embarrassing disqualification from the US Open earlier this month, the 33-year old Serb is yet to lose a match in 2020. In the process, he has become champion at the Australian Open, the Cincinnati Masters and the Rome Masters for the umpteenth time. The icing on the cake is surpassing Pete Sampras‘ record as the player on the World No.1 ranking for the most number of weeks.

It is no shock then when tennis great John McEnroe calls Djokovic favourite to lift the French Open 2020 trophy. However, calling Djokovic equally favourite with Rafael Nadal may be an overstatement from McEnroe, considering Nadal is a 12-time champion at Roland Garros.

Also Read: French Open 2020: “It is better that Rafa lost early,” says former Roland Garros finalist, hails Novak Djokovic

FS Video

Djokovic’s US Open disqualification was a catastrophe: John McEnroe

Novak Djokovic

While speaking to Eurosport, McEnroe defended the reason for calling Djokovic as an equal favourite with Nadal at the French Open. “I rate Novak’s chances as highly as high as Rafa’s at the French Open, yes. Normally, you’d go with Rafa but at some point, I mean he’s won it 12 times, but it seems like he’s as well set up as he’s ever been,” said McEnroe.

John McEnroe also discussed the bizarre disqualification of Novak Djokovic from the US Open.

“Obviously his US Open disqualification was an accident, it was a catastrophe for him. Novak sort of made history so it’s an opportunity that’s gone by the wayside because he was probably going to win the whole thing so it is a wasted chance but how he responded afterwards, he did absolutely the right thing so he set himself up, it’s him and Thiem and Rafa,” said McEnroe.

McEnroe further added, “I’m surprised that it doesn’t seem to have affected him that much and that shows a lot of strength of character. It’s like a one in a million, so it’s just unfortunate but I think, no, they didn’t have any choice at that time, unfortunately.”

Also Read: “Going to be extra careful of hitting tennis balls around the court this time,” says Novak Djokovic