Zverev issues warning to tennis old guard

Alexander Zverev believes the time has finally come for the younger generation to break through in the men’s game ahead of the Tour Finals. The German sprung a major surprise last year when he claimed the end-of-season prize at the O2 Arena, beating Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Novak Djokovic in the final to claim the biggest win of his career. The 22-year-old’s victory looked like it might be the start of a new era in men’s tennis but the ‘Big Three’ of Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have re-exerted their dominance, mopping up all of this year’s Grand Slam titles between them. No player from outside the trio has won a Slam since the 2016 US Open but Zverev is confident that record will soon change. “Obviously Rafa, Novak and Roger have had a great rivalry for many, many years, it started from a young age so hopefully we’re the ones… maybe some of the other guys as well, [Denis] Shapovalov is playing great tennis,” said Zverev. “Some of the young guys are not here yet but I’m sure they will arrive here very soon. There’s a very strong group of guys. We’ll see how it goes, three years ago when I had my breakthrough season I made it here first time, I didn’t expect to make it that quick.” The world No.7’s theory will be put to the test at next week’s Tour Finals with Zverev joining fellow rising stars Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Andre Agassi Group, alongside world no.1 Nadal.