Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev are probably the two main symbols of the generation after the Big 3, along with Stefanos Tsitsipas slightly behind. These three players did not manage to win as much as was expected at the beginning of their careers and the reasons are different.
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The Russian ace is the only one who has won a Grand Slam title at the 2021 US Open and who has become world number 1. However, his rise has totally stopped in the last year also due to the rise of two young champions such as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The player from Moscow has entered a deep crisis and has lost all his certainties, as evidenced by the zero titles won in 2024 and his premature elimination at the 2025 Australian Open against the young American talent Tien in the second round.
Sascha, on the other hand, has made progress in recent months and changed his attitude, but he has not yet managed to win a Major title and this curse continues to haunt him. The German player reached the final at the AO last week, but was literally demolished by World No.1 Sinner in a one-sided match.
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'Tsitsi' - finally - is going through the worst moment of his entire career and is very far from the player he was a few years ago. The Greek ace dropped out of the Top 10 and became a second-rate player, who can no longer make a difference in the most prestigious tournaments.
Tennis has changed a lot
In a long interview with Eurosport, former Top 10 and top analyst Arnaud Clement explained how tennis has changed in the last 15 years: "I think the standardization of surfaces has had a big impact on the tennis that is played today. The courts are almost all the same, which is why the tennis needed to win is less and less varied.
Nowadays, there is little room to find alternative solutions. In my time there were no players like Medvedev or Zverev, guys almost two meters tall who moved so well. When you could get them to run, 80% of the work was done."
