‘Gotten Under the Skin’ – John McEnroe Strongly Believes That He Could Have Defeated Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic in His Heydays

American tennis star John McEnroe is one of the all-time greats. The 63-year-old was one of the toughest players of his time. However, he retired well before he could face the big three of current-day tennis. In a recent documentary, the American opened up about various aspects of his life and career.

The legend also gave his opinion on how he would have fared against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.

John McEnroe on his chances against the big three

While speaking about his chances against the big three, the 63-year-old gave himself a chance that he could at least win two or three times out of ten against them.

“Obviously, he (Novak Djokovic) Rafael (Rafael Nadal), and Roger (Roger Federer) are the three guys. You know if I played these guys 10 times, I’d like to think I could have beaten them like two or three times each. Gotten under the skin hopefully, brought some intensity and some effort into it,” he said.

Further, he praised the three for their brilliance.

Read more: ‘Getting Old S**ks’- John McEnroe’s Deep Regret With His Physique as He Vents Out Frustration to His Wife

“These guys are legends. He’s like a human backboard, Djokovic, so he is an incredible player, but you always try to measure or think what could have or what would have happened had you played them in a situation like this,” he added.

It would have been really interesting to see them face off with McEnroe.

The race of Grand Slam titles

As rightly pointed out by McEnroe, the big three, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer, are three of the best active players. They certainly have been a notch above the rest of the pack. Interestingly, three of them were tied with 20 Grand Slam titles each until 2020.

However, an unfortunate injury to Roger Federer made him unavailable for a long time, and in between, Djokovic has moved to 21 titles, while Nadal has 22 Slam titles to his name now. However, with Federer returning later this year in the Laver Cup and the other two also going strong, the rivalry is going to continue for a long.

Watch this story: The Greatest Comebacks in Tennis

Who do you think will end up with the most number of Grand Slam titles? Let us know in the comments.