Tennis legend John McEnroe believes playing Roger Federer at Wimbledon would be a “dream” while facing Nadal at French Open would be a “nightmare.”
The legendary American described Federer as “the most beautiful player” while also lauding 14-time Roland Garros champion’s achievement on clay as “insane.”
During his illustrious career, Federer has won more Wimbledon Championships than any other man as 8 out of his 20 Grand Slam titles originate from the grassy fields of All England Club. The 42-year-old Swiss maestro who retired from tennis at the 2022 Laver Cup also has 103 singles tour titles under his belt.
Federer’s all-time rival Nadal holds a mammoth 14 French Open titles and has no parallel on Parisian clay. The 22-time Major Champion is out of action since the start of the 2023 season because of a hip injury he sustained in the R2 of Australian Open back in January. His last Roland Garros title came in 2022.
The duo who were part of a 40 match head-to-head series played between 2004 and 2019, shared one of the tennis’ iconic rivalries. Nadal leads the series 24-16 despite the fact that Federer reduced the deficit by being triumphant in 6 of their last 7 meetings.
Present in an episode of the SmartLess podcast, the 7-time GS champion described the greatest duo and revealed why he would face Federer in Wimbledon than Nadal in Roland Garros.
“Federer is the most beautiful player I’ve ever seen. You know I idolized Rod Laver. He was awesome. Whereas you look at Rafael Nadal, that’s not your typical or prototypical tennis player. His body is bigger up top. When we grew up, they were like, ‘Don’t lift [weights]’,” said the American.
“The dream would be to play Roger at Wimbledon and the nightmare would be to play Rafa at Roland Garros on clay, even though I grew up on clay and that was my best surface until I turned pro. But what Rafa did was insane.”
Nadal last played against Mackenzie McDonald in the R2 of 2023 Australian Open back in January and lost match. The 37-year-old underwent surgery on the issue in June, is currently on the recovery path and plans to make a return in 2024 which he has announced will be his final season on the tour.
Federer joined Forces with Nadal in the final competitive match of his career as the iconic duo shared the court in doubles rubber for Team Europe at the 2022 Laver Cup in London where Federer said bye to his glorious career. The former World No.1 played his last singles match at the 2021 Wimbledon Championships – a quarter final loss against big-serving Pole Hubert Hurkacz.