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Predicting what the ATP Top 5 will look like in five years

By Brandon Daniels

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 31: Dominic Thiem of Austria and Alexander Zverev of Germany change ends during their Men's Singles Semifinal match on day twelve of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 31, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JANUARY 31: Dominic Thiem of Austria and Alexander Zverev of Germany change ends during their Men's Singles Semifinal match on day twelve of the 2020 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on January 31, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Andy Cheung/Getty Images) /
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ACAPULCO, MEXICO – FEBRUARY 26: Alexander Zverev of Germany returns a ball during the singles match between Tommy Paul of USA and Alexander Zverev of Germany as part of the ATP Mexican Open 2020 Day 3 on February 26, 2020 in Acapulco, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images)
ACAPULCO, MEXICO – FEBRUARY 26: Alexander Zverev of Germany returns a ball during the singles match between Tommy Paul of USA and Alexander Zverev of Germany as part of the ATP Mexican Open 2020 Day 3 on February 26, 2020 in Acapulco, Mexico. (Photo by Hector Vivas/Getty Images) /

3. Alexander Zverev

Age: 23

Current Rank: 7

Zverev is the first to be listed of the next ‘Big 3’ on the ATP Tour. He’s one of the best young players on tour without a doubt. After breaking through to win his first title in 2016, he followed that up with 9 combined titles in 2017 and 2018. He won two Masters 1000 Series in 2017 and one more in 2018, as well as the ATP Finals in the same year. Zverev reached the top three at the end of 2017.

After two stellar seasons, Zverev didn’t follow it up with another in 2019. He didn’t advance past the quarterfinals in any major event and suffered a first round loss at Wimbledon. Nevertheless, he’s shown enough success against the top players to let that slide.

The big question for Zverev is whether or not he can overcome the other two members of the trio, Thiem and Tsitsipas, and win major championships. So far in their careers, Zverev has had arguably the least successful career out of the three. While Thiem and Tsitsipas have had consistent success, Zverev has been in consistent in comparison. He didn’t notch a win against the two players in 2019 (in 4 attempts).

If Zverev can break through and begin to consistently defeat his two rivals, he’ll be in a great position to not only win major championships, but also to obtain the #1 ranking.

Next. #2 - Stefanos Tsitsipas. dark

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