PATRICK McEnroe last night dismissed the chances of Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal lifting the Australian Open title. The 35-year-old Swiss, who missed the last six months of the season with a knee injury, and the 30-year-old Spaniard, who missed last year's Wimbledon with a wrist problem, have combined for 31 Grand Slam titles - including five Aussie Open crowns - but McEnroe, the ESPN pundit, finds it hard to see past World No 1 Andy Murray or his resurgent rival Novak Djokovic for the title. While Murray is top seed and favourite for the first time at any major tournament, Nadal is seeded ninth and Federer no better than 17th.
"Let's hope they keep playing for 20 more years because they've been unbelievable for tennis," said McEnroe. "They're two of the all time greats, two of the all-time class acts in men's tennis.
"But I don't realistically expect either of them to be holding up the trophy at the end of this tournament. And I think probably if they took a truth test, they'd probably agree with that. But being as great as they are, I would guess if they get three, four matches, wins under their belt, they'll think they have a chance to win it and expectations would rise for them.
"But I don't expect either of them to be able to hold the trophy, particularly when you look at just the way Djokovic and Murray have looked in the last couple years, and have also started out the year. They played a great match already against each other in the Middle East. I'd really have to convince myself that they could pull something extraordinary to beat one or two of those guys in best-of-five sets, not to mention the rest of the field and the other players, the younger guys coming up like [Dominic] Thiem, [Alexander] Zverev, guys like that. I think it's going to be tough for them to do that."
McEnroe feels that the altered state of play at the summit of the rankings since the Scot usurped his Serbian rival's place at the O2 last November only adds spice to what is always an eagerly awaited tournament. He feels if Djokovic is to claim what would be a remarkable seventh Australian Open crown, it will be because the Serb has raised his game, not because Murray has been unable to cope with the pressure of going into the year as World No 1.
"I'm always excited for the Australian Open because it's one of my favourite events," said McEnroe. "I think there's a lot more buzz this year because Murray has taken over No 1, not by a long shot, but an amazing effort to do that. Djokovic is going to feel like he's got something to prove, even though he's had a couple of the greatest years ever in the history of men's tennis in the last couple years. Then you have Roger and Rafa coming back. You have still got the guys knocking on the door like [Kei] Nishikori. We haven't mentioned [Stan] Wawrinka, who has had an unbelievable couple of years. He got down there early this year and there's no reason he can't make a big run. He loves the conditions there.
"I think Andy will handle being No. 1 just fine," he added. "He's been around long enough to know what it takes. He's worked extremely hard to get there. Quite honestly, I didn't think he could get there. I certainly didn't think he could get there last year. But it was a hell of an effort to do it. The biggest difference in why he was able to do it was his consistency, being able to win a lot of matches every tournament, to be able to win on clay, which he hadn't done in the past. I don't think he's going to lose it because he can't handle being No. 1. I think he's going to lose it in Djokovic steps up and plays better, which I think is certainly possible."
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