Roger Federer's former coach, Ivan Ljubicic, has hit back at John McEnroe for 'nonsense' comments made before Wimbledon.
McEnroe recently claimed that both Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz would beat a prime Rafael Nadal, who won 22 Grand Slam titles during his career.
Sinner's major total now sits at four following his outstanding win over Alcaraz on Sunday.
As for Alcaraz, the 22-year-old has five Grand Slams to his name - with the Australian Open the only one missing from his collection.
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|Roger Federer's former coach, Ivan Ljubicic, has hit back at John McEnroe for 'nonsense' comments made before Wimbledon
Speaking recently, McEnroe suggested that both players would be too strong for Nadal - even when the Spaniard was operating at the peak of his powers.
"You took a look at them bringing their A-game right now - I'm saying Sinner and Alcaraz against Nadal on clay - you would make a serious argument with both guys that they would be favoured to beat Nadal, at his best," he said.
"Do I think they're going to reach, 20, 24 titles either one of them? No.
"Because I think that plateau is so hard it's almost impossible; there's more depth in the game, bigger hitters, and more things happen."
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Ljubicic disagrees, however. Per Tennisuptodate, he said: "People always exaggerate.
"John McEnroe said Nadal wouldn’t have stood a chance against these guys. That’s nonsense.
"We haven’t even seen the best of Alcaraz and Sinner yet. They still have a lot of room to improve. The next generation is always better than the previous one.
"But I don’t think they’re ahead just yet. I sometimes watch matches from 2005, 2008, 2012, 2015—Roger and Rafa. That was already incredible tennis."
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Ivan Ljubicic coached Roger Federer during the Swiss maestro's career
Nadal won 14 of his majors at the French Open before retiring from tennis last year.
He secured two Wimbledon triumphs during his career, with his first coming against Federer in 2008.
Nadal had lost the two previous finals at the All England Club to the Swiss star.
However, the 39-year-old managed to strike gold at the third attempt with a 6–4, 6–4, 6–7 (5–7), 6–7 (8–10), 9–7 triumph.
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Nadal was forced to miss Wimbledon in 2009 due to injury.
Instead, Federer won the crown that year - with the Swiss maestro beating Andy Roddick in the final.
Nadal was, however, able to win Wimbledon for a second time the following year when he overcame Tomas Berdych in the final.
Speaking last week, he explained his decision not to attend the big event this year.
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"Honestly, no, I don’t regret not being there because my life has changed," he stated.
"I’m enjoying the tournament from a different perspective. I hope in the future I can return to Wimbledon. Right now, I’m in another phase of my life.
"This is my first summer in Mallorca. After retiring, I was in bad shape for a month—I could barely walk. But now, I’m doing better than I could have imagined."