“The best I’ve seen him play”: John McEnroe reacts to Lorenzo Musetti’s injury-driven exit from French Open

John McEnroe has expressed his feelings about Lorenzo Musetti’s heartbreaking end to the French Open 2025 campaign. The 23-year-old was forced to retire during the semifinal against Carlos Alcaraz because of a fitness problem.

The final score of the match was 4-6, 7-6, 6-0, 2-0. It was Musetti's third consecutive semifinal defeat. Before coming to Paris, Musetti lost to Jack Draper in the last-four clash at the Madrid Open and then in the semifinals of the Rome Masters to Alcaraz.

It was not the first time Musetti struggled with fitness problems this season. Back in February, he retired before the start of the Argentina Open against Spain’s Pedro Martinez. In April, a similar situation unfolded in the final of the Monte-Carlo Masters, where he won the first set comprehensively with a score of 6-3. However, an injury early in the second set gave Alcaraz an easy route to victory.

McEnroe, while speaking to TNT Sports, shared his thoughts about the latest setback suffered by the current world number eight. The 66-year-old stated that the result on Thursday was a ‘bummer’, especially when Musetti was playing so well against the defending champion.

"The best I’ve seen him play," said McEnroe. "It’s an absolute bummer. He was down 6-5 in the second, breaks back, and had a chance to go up two sets to love, which no-one expected. Then he just goes away. It shows sports. At one moment, you’re on top of the world, you feel like you’re invincible. The guy was hitting his forehand as big as Alcaraz. He was serving unreal. Then to have it all go away, it’s like riches to rags in the space of five minutes. Part of it felt it was emotional; a let-down, somewhat expected. Alcaraz could relax a little. It blows."