Why US Open and Wimbledon champion Alexander Zverev still has plenty to prove if he truly wants to join Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner at the top, writes TAMARA PRENN

Unexpectedly, ESPN’s coverage of the US Open men’s final between Alexander Zverev and Ben Shelton ended with a plea.

‘Get healthy, Carlos and Jannik,’ American tennis icon John McEnroe said as his parting shot, responding to whether the new champion would take his dominance into next year’s Australian Open.

For all of the German’s mammoth achievements this season, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner remain the ghosts at the feast. Last year, the two men split the Grand Slams, most often in finals against one another. 

Their dominant 2025 suggested their young rivalry would take the baton from the previous generation, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, with the Spaniard and the Italian shutting out all but the very best opponents at the very top of the sport. But who would be their Novak Djokovic?

Despite being an ever-present in the top 10, a majors finalist and Olympic gold medallist in 2021, Zverev was largely shut out of conversations over who would make the duo a trio. 

He is older than both stars, part of a generation including Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas once tipped to take the reins from the Big Three, only to be shut out by Djokovic’s longevity and Sinner and Alcaraz’s precocity. And when he did make it to Grand Slam finals, it wasn’t pretty.

Zverev overcame Ben Shelton in the final, but can he challenge a fully fit Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner?

The strongest evidence for why Zverev had long held a reputation for stuttering at the very biggest moments came in his first US Open final, six years ago. The then-23-year-old scythed through his draw at a 2020 Covid-19 tournament defined by its absences: Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic, defaulted after striking a line judge in the throat with a ball accidentally. He held a two-set lead against Dominic Thiem, lost it, served for the championship in the fifth set, and lost that too. The Austrian player left with the trophy, and Zverev started growing scar tissue.

Then came Paris, four years later, against Alcaraz. Having lost the opening set, Zverev clawed back the next two, only to lose in five. His next Grand Slam final, against Sinner in Melbourne in 2025, was a rout.

This season, with Alcaraz recovering from a wrist injury between April and late August and Sinner struck down by the sweltering heat at the French Open, and kept out by knee inflammation in New York, Zverev has undergone valuable healing.

‘I think God has seen how hard we worked, how much we suffered, how much pain we went through,’ he said before lifting yesterday’s trophy. ‘I think 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before.’

What winning two Grand Slams has not done however, is prove he is capable of going toe-to-toe with either Sinner or Alcaraz.

The Italian is a particular problem for Zverev, who has not been able to beat the 25-year-old in their last 10 meetings. After winning Roland-Garros in June, Zverev arrived at Wimbledon playing with lightness and explosivity – neither of which are qualities which normally define his game. This allowed him one set against Sinner when they met in the final, and then it was business as usual.

When asked on Sunday if he considered himself the best player in the world, he paused. ‘If we say right now with Jannik being injured and Carlos coming back from injury, maybe.

‘Four, five months ago when both of them were healthy, I wasn’t. I was losing to Jannik all the time. If everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead.’

Sinner and Alcaraz dominated in 2025 but both have struggled with injuries and fitness setbacks this year

Zverev is yet to quite prove himself against the duo (pictured after losing the Wimbledon final to Sinner back in July)

Baked into that response then, is the idea that Alcaraz might occupy a similar plane to Zverev. But Zverev’s recent record against Alcaraz is only slightly more intricate than his head-to-head against Sinner. The Spaniard is the only other player to shut him out at the Slams this year.

When they met at the Australian Open, the clash went to five testing sets across a mind-bending five hours and 27 minutes. But Alcaraz was significantly impaired by persistent cramp, and an injury to his right leg deep in the third set. Zverev, one of the fittest athletes on the tour, could not kill him off, and Alcaraz went on to win his career Grand Slam.

With Sinner’s return to the tour this season still unconfirmed, Zverev could yet end the year as world No1. But the real test comes against Sinner and Alcaraz when fit in 2027.

The player who will take the mantle as disruptor must have Grand Slam form against the greatest – and of the two finalists, it was Shelton who put himself in that conversation after his quarter-final classic against Alcaraz last week. Without beating tennis’ two biggest stars, Zverev is only picking up their scraps.