Rafael Nadal's absence at French Open will 'fuel' Novak Djokovic as 'end of an era' approaches - John McEnroe
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Updated 24/05/2023 at 14:24 GMT
Novak Djokovic has the chance to win a 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open and move one ahead of Rafael Nadal, who is missing the tournament, in the all-time standings. John McEnroe thinks Nadal's absence will be "fuel" for Djokovic and has given his view on Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune as they bid to challenge for the title in Paris. The French Open starts on May 28.
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John McEnroe thinks Rafael Nadal’s absence from the French Open is an "opening" for Novak Djokovic as the "end" of the 'Big Three' era approaches.
Djokovic and Nadal are both on 22 Grand Slam titles, level at the top of the all-time standings.
Nadal will not have a chance to win No. 23 in Paris as he has withdrawn due to injury.
But Djokovic will be at the tournament as he looks to win his second major of the year and move one ahead of Nadal for most Grand Slam titles.
“It’s his quest to be the best ever and win the most majors so right now it looks like he's the only guy left who could break more records,” said Eurosport expert McEnroe.
“He's tied with Rafa so this is an opening. He's had a tough year and a half in a lot of ways and he's also done some incredible things.
“Novak, he's always looking for some inspiration, some fuel, and he's got some now and he's got a great chance.”
Djokovic will be seeded third at the French Open behind world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev.
Medvedev moved up to No. 2 following his Italian Open win, meaning Djokovic could be pitted to face Alcaraz in the semi-finals when the draw is made on Thursday.
McEnroe thinks Nadal’s absence makes the “door more open for any player that wants to win this tournament”.
“It's much more open, you have Novak who's won it twice, and then it becomes much more wide open after that. So, I think from that standpoint, it's exciting.
“The ideal would have been if Rafa was still playing at a very high level, and someone was good enough to beat him when he's playing great. That is what people really wanted to see, I think, which obviously only happened a couple of times at Roland-Garros where someone could beat him and outplay him.
“But having said that, I think it's going to be an exciting tournament to see what plays out.”
McEnroe also thinks this now feels like the ‘Big Three’ era is ending as the likes of Alcaraz and Holger Rune, 20, aim for glory in Paris.
“We're approaching obviously the end of an era. I mean, this has been going on for 15 years, if not longer, so it's unbelievable, but everything at some point ends.
"Novak is 36 now and he seems to be incredible for the most part and his body still seems to be able to do what he wants, but at some point, you think in the near future, that's going to change. It’s just a question of how long can you keep going, that's why you're seeing young guys, finally...
“It's taken almost a generation and skipped like all these people that didn't win much like [Alexander] Zverev, [Daniil] Medvedev won one, [Dominic] Thiem won one. There's a lot of guys that didn't win any you know, now you got these 20 year olds in Alcaraz and Rune, who’s the next guy, I pick him as the third or fourth guy ahead of these other guys.
“The young bucks are finally starting to emerge, but you have to wait and see if they're mentally ready to you know, Alcaraz proved he was at the US Open but now you have to see if Rune is capable of making that step to win something like this, but right now if you asked me, I would say Alcaraz would be the slight favourite to win this.”
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