McEnroe: “Djokovic talks about his desire to have the most Grand Slams, while Rafa acts like nothing…”

“I had never seen anyone like him. I thought Jimmy Connors had tried very hard until I saw Rafael Nadal,” he said.

The American legend considers the man from Manacor “a role model”

John McEnroe is one of the most unconditional admirers that Rafa Nadal has in the world of tennis. And they are not minor words, since the American is a living legend who has seven Grand Slams.

In statements to ‘Tennis 365’, the man from Wiesbaden highlighted that “Nadal is a role model for other tennis players, and it is because of his fight and effort on the court. It is not easy that at 36 you are able to win the Australian Open and then Roland Garros, then reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon. Is not easy”.

And it is that John McEnroe values, above all, the agonistic capacity and effort that Rafa Nadal always shows: “I had never seen anyone like him in that aspect. When I played with him, I always thought that Jimmy Connors had tried very hard until I saw Nadal. It is his greatest quality, since the fact that he can go out on the court and make that kind of effort, play and play, is something that tennis players always aspire to, but it is very difficult to achieve“.

The American tennis player also pointed out the differences that he appreciates between Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic: “They are totally different in many aspects. Djokovic openly talks about his desire to have the most Grand Slams in the history of tennis, while Rafa acts as if nothing It didn’t matter in that aspect, except to go out on the court, play and work hard for every point and every game.

McEnroe doesn’t put one above the other by calibrating that approach: “It’s worked out pretty well for both of them if you look at their history and how many grands they’ve won.so whatever makes you happy and whatever brings out the best in you is probably what you should do.”