Alexander Zverev is quite clearly a level above the rest of the field on the ATP Tour, but finds himself hopelessly lagging behind Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.
After all, such is their greatness, the German is so often thwarted by them in his unrelenting pursuit of the sport’s most elite honours.
And yet, despite his struggles, his recent comments suggested that he did not feel too far away from both of them.
In fact, he has argued that, whilst Jannik Sinner is a cut above the rest, he and Carlos Alcaraz are the ones chasing, side by side.
Tracy Austin could not have disagreed more.
Why Alexander Zverev compared himself to Carlos Alcaraz
After losing in the Madrid Open final, Alexander Zverev took to his press conference to make a statement.
Clearly keen to uplift Sinner and emphasise just how great he is, the 28-year-old actually ended up stirring quite a debate, as he grouped himself with Alcaraz.
What does Alexander Zverev have to do to change his results against Jannik Sinner?
The three-time Grand Slam finalist argued: “I think there’s a big gap between [Jannik] Sinner and everybody else right now. It’s quite simple.
“I think there’s a big gap between Sinner and everybody else. And I think there’s a big gap between [Carlos] Alcaraz, myself, maybe Novak [Djokovic], and everybody else. I think there are two gaps right now.”
CoCo Vandweghe completely disagreed with Zverev’s comments, and so too did Austin.
Jim Courier and Tracy Austin react to Alexander Zverev’s bold claim
Alas, it was Jim Courier who kick-started this debate, arguing that there are three tiers that currently separate the ATP top ten.
“I think that Sascha was nearly perfect with his observation,” he stated.
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 1 | Jannik Sinner | 13,750 |
| 2 | Carlos Alcaraz | 11,960 |
| 3 | Alexander Zverev | 5655 |
| 4 | Novak Djokovic | 4710 |
Courier then claimed: I think that Carlos and Jannik are, you know, 1, 1a, whichever way you want to split it. But they’ve clearly separated themselves and built them up with their consistency.
“I almost put Novak in his own conversation. Like, he’s almost so far afield of everyone because of how little he’s playing; it’s hard to really put him in because he’s just not there very often. When he is, he’s super dangerous, just as Jannik. He knew that in Australia.
“But I said this on air last week. I think we’ve got it, give Zverev his flowers. While there’s a huge moat between him in that top gear, he’s created a moat beneath him as well and the rest of the field.”
However, Austin found an alternative view, instead saying: “I mean, you say he was pretty close. I thought he was pretty far away.”
Do you really believe that Alexander Zverev can win a Grand Slam title?
She continued: Carlos Alcaraz has won the last two majors and seven overall, and as far as I remember, Zverev is slamless. He hasn’t won anything quite yet.
“So I’m gonna put Sinner and Alcaraz in the top tier, and I put them together, because they’ve won the last nine slams, not til Djokovic, you know, ten slams ago that anybody else won.
“And I know that Carlos is injured right now, but he’s still right there at the top.
“And then in the next tier, I am going to put Zverev, because, along with Jim, he deserves that. He’s gone deep in majors, deep in so many other tournaments that he plays, won many Masters 1000s, and I’m gonna put Novak in there as well, with his 24 majors and just all the experience that he has.
“He hasn’t played much lately, but I still put him in that second tier. And then I think there’s the rest. The rest of the top ten.
“It’s very clear. I was just shocked that Sascha, first of all, bumped Alcaraz down, and then put himself in there with Alcaraz.”
