Alexander Zverev's bold claim that he could have defeated Rafael Nadal at the French Open isn't going down so well.

Zverev recently stated his belief that if not for injury, given how he was playing on clay at the time, he could have defeated Nadal in their French Open semifinal last year.

Nadal was notably leading 7-6, 6-6 at the time before an ankle injury forced Zverev to forfeit the game. The Spaniard went on to win his fourteenth French Open title in the final.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant,” Zverev said.”Rafa is obviously the best player to ever play on that surface so you never know what happens. You never know what happens in that match as well. If I don’t get injured, of course I [could have lost] that match. Of course, he can go on to win his 14th Grand Slam.

“But I felt like I was playing my best tennis that I’ve ever played on that surface. So for some reason, I did feel like I could at least compete with him, which I was doing. The outcome of the match obviously, always depends on little factors as well. But I did feel like that could have been the week for me.”

Those comments gave many tennis fans a laugh and even Ivan Ljubicic, the former coach of Roger Federer, decided to have some fun at Zverev's expense.

“Nobody wants to sound arrogant but everyone is claiming to have almost won Roland Garros last year 😂,” Ljubicic tweeted. “Love it!! On with trash talk!! 🌶️”

To Zverev's credit, there's nothing wrong with being confident. But at the same time, he is talking about a player in Rafael Nadal who has only lost three times in 112 matches at Roland Garros.