“The biggest mark against him is that he’s not Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Alcaraz” – Andy Roddick makes full-throated defense of Alexander Zverev

June 16, 2025

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Andy Roddick discussed Alexander Zverev’s Slamless resume despite his dominance on the court after the Big Three, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, and current top stars, Jannik Sinner, and Carlos Alcaraz. Zverev came fresh off playing in the finals at the Boss Open but narrowly losing the title to Taylor Fritz.

Alexander Zverev, who stands at World No.3, won 24 ATP Tour singles titles in his career and added an Olympic gold medal in 2021 Tokyo. He was runner-up in three majors: the Australian Open in 2025, the French Open in 2024, and the US Open in 2020. At the recently concluded French Open, he lost to Novak Djokovic in three sets in the quarter-finals, once again missing his chance of winning a Slam.

Former player and ‘Served’ podcast host Andy Roddick opined on how Zverev hasn’t yet won a major despite reaching a career-high ranking and proving his resilience after major injury at Roland Garros against Djokovic in 2022. He also highlighted that Zverev’s ‘biggest mark’ is that he is not the Big Three, or Sinner, or Alcaraz.

"When Zverev was playing Nadal a couple years ago, Roland Garros broke his ankle and couldn't put any weight on it? At that point, did we think that he would reach a career-high ranking in 2024? Probably not. The biggest mark against him is that he's not Roger, Rafa, Novak, Alcaraz, or Sinner. The biggest knock is that he is pretty clearly the best player to have not won a major at this point in his career. And I'm not talking about right now, ever."

He further backed the German, adding:

"It's this weird thing where I'm not going to criticize someone for being elite. At majors specifically, because he has to talk about it so much, there is an extra pressure set there... It's just the margins. I'm not going to criticize someone and pretend like they haven't accomplished a lot because they haven't accomplished the thing."

Zverev will next be in action at the Terra Wortmann Open in the Round of 32 against Marcos Girón on June 18, 2025.

Alexander Zverev issued a message for Taylor Fritz after the Boss Open loss

Fritz and Zverev at the Tennis: ATP Tour - Stuttgart... - (Source: Getty)

Alexander Zverev faced a hard loss in the Boss Open finals against American star Taylor Fritz in straight sets. Following the defeat so close to the win, the German hilariously asked Fritz to stay away from him for two to three years, while he suppressed his disappointment.

"Taylor, I’m f***ing tired of you. I don’t want to see you again over the next two to three years. Please stay away from me. Don’t come to Germany anymore."

At 20 years old, Alexander Zverev was the youngest player to make it top 20 since Djokovic. The 28-year-old has two Tour Finals titles in his impressive repertoire.

About the author

Agnijeeta is a US Olympics journalist at Sportskeeda. She holds a Master’s degree in English and has worked as a school teacher, a blogger, a content writer and a sports writer over the past 5 years. A lover of high-adrenaline track and field events, she was also a sprinter during her school days.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone happens to be her favorite Olympian, and the athlete’s feat of breaking four records within 13 months inspires her, apart from the American's body language on and off the track. Grant Hackett swimming with a partially dysfunctional lung and winning gold in Athens is her all-time favorite Olympic moment.

Agnijeeta believes that deriving of unique angles from podcasts and interviews carried out by Olympics.com, along with hype-building of potential Olympic events on social media can help fill the coverage gap during the off season.

When not at her work desk, Agnijeeta likes to sing and paint. She also plays string instruments like guitar and ukulele and is an avid player of word puzzles.

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