Alexander Zverev appears to have entered his prime on the ATP Tour.
The German, now 29 years old, has enjoyed the best summer of his professional tennis career so far, having recorded his best-ever results at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon.
Zverev captured an elusive Grand Slam title at the French Open, taking advantage of a wide open draw to finally hoist a major trophy.
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A month later, he ended a nine-year-long streak of early exits in SW19 by making the final of Wimbledon, where he was ultimately denied by Jannik Sinner.
Recent results have seen Zverev leapfrog Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP rankings to become the new world number two, matching his career-high.
Zverev’s success comes six years after tennis legend John McEnroe’s crushing criticism of him.
What John McEnroe said about Alexander Zverev back in 2019
Back in 2019, the big three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were still very much the dominant forces in the sport.
The trio of legends made up spots first second, and third in the year-end rankings that season, with Nadal and Djokovic splitting all four major titles between them.
As per the Guardian in 2019, McEnroe was discussing who will snap the dominance of the big three.
The American said: “Felix Auger-Aliassime has the attitude you need to be the best in the world.
Felix Auger-Aliassime was 19 years of age at the time and ranked 21st in the world, showing plenty of promise.
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McEnroe added: “Stefanos [Tsitsipas] has that attitude. He is the closest right now.”
He then went on to say: “[Alexander] Zverev? He has been the frontrunner for a while but it seems he hasn’t rounded his game off enough.
“When the pressure ramps up at the big ones, he gets a little passive. He psyches himself out. The pressure so far has got to him.”
Alexander Zverev’s career compared to Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime
The year after McEnroe’s comments, Zverev reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, where he was a set away from glory, but was denied by Dominic Thiem.
He then made finals at the 2024 French Open and the 2025 Australian Open before finally getting his hands on a Grand Slam trophy in Paris this year.
Stefanos Tsitsipas on the other hand, just two years younger than Zverev, is yet to win a major.
The Greek star has advanced to the championship match at two Grand Slams: Roland Garros 2021 and the Australian Open 2023.
But he failed to get over the line at both and has since made only two Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Auger-Aliassime, while still only 25, has also yet to win a major, with two Grand Slam semifinal appearances to his name.
As well as his Roland Garros title, Zverev has won an Olympic gold medal, the ATP Finals twice, and seven ATP Masters 1000 trophies.
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