John McEnroe believes Rafael Nadal will beat Roger Federer in the race to end the year as world No.1.
The two players are fighting it out for the position following a successful season, which has seen them win two grand slam titles each. Nadal leads his Swiss rival by 1960 points, but Federer has no points to defend for the rest of the year. On the tour they have faced each other three times this season with Federer winning all of those encounters.
“I think Rafa is the favourite (for the year end No.1). Firstly, because of the advantage he has in terms of the points and secondly because I don’t know how much Roger will play between now and November. Everything is possible, but Nadal has more chances to stay on top after the Masters.” McEnroe told Marca.com.
12 months ago was a different scenario for both players. Federer was on a six-month injury hiatus due to a knee injury. Meanwhile, Nadal was struggling with his wrist injury. Now the tables has turned with the two other members of the big four, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, nursing injury problems. The turn of events is one that has surprised McEnroe, who has praised both players for their comeback.
“Of course I was surprised, I don’t think even they thought they would win all four. Their final at the Australian Open was the best game of the year. It has been incredible what they’ve done.” He said.
“If you don’t play for six months, it is impossible to be at your best. Federer not only played well, but he showed great character. If you put everything together, it has been amazing.”
Djokovic’s ‘mental’ problem
Speaking about Djokovic’s break from the tour, the 58-year-old believes that Serbian is still struggling mentally. Shortly after winning the 2016 French Open, Djokovic admitted that he had been troubled by motivational issues. Following his quarter-final loss to Dominic Thiem in Roland Garros earlier this year, he told reporters that the match was ‘decided in the first set.’ Drawing concern from others over his mental state.
“I’m not close enough to them to know exactly what happens, but it seems that Murray’s is physical and Djokovic’s is mental. What’s also true is that sometimes an injury affects you on the mental level and vice versa.”
After a somewhat average first half of the season, Djokovic took the decision to replace his entire coaching team. Resulting in the ending of his collaboration with Boris Becker. A approach that has drawn criticism from McEnroe.
“They did surprise me because normally one doesn’t change a winning formula. Changing the whole team was an incredible thing to do and I’m not sure why he did it.” He said.
Djokovic is set to return to competition at the start of 2018.
