Alexander Zverev must beat Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner to stay relevant, says Andy Roddick savagely.

World number three Alexander Zverev is 28 years old, but has yet to win a Grand Slam title. In the first half of his career, he battled the dominance of the Big Three, including Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and as they came of age, two new tennis stars broke into the sport. They are Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, both of whom have yet to concede a major title in the last two years.

Zverev has suffered the most during this transition period, and he has himself to blame as well. Injuries and his inability to defeat highly ranked opponents affected his career.

On Wednesday, former ATP star Andy Roddick shared his harsh view on how Zverev’s career will be determined if he doesn’t find a way to defeat Sinner and Alcaraz.

“There’s a tremendous amount, it’s realistic, it’s fair, and it’s also bad enough that his entire career is defined by whether he can beat these guys twice in a row in a major and win one,” Roddick said (56:40) on his podcast. “That’s it. That’s what it’s all about. He knows it.”

In 2025, Zverev reached the final of the Australian Open, but was unable to beat Jannik Sinner, who won the third Grand Slam of his career at Melbourne Park. There have been some standout moments for the German this year, including earning his 500th career win at the Toronto Masters and qualifying for the ATP Finals for the eighth time in the past nine seasons. However, the Grand Slam still evaded him.

Andy Roddick shares areas of improvement with Alexander Zverev ahead of the 2026 season

To add more about Alexander Zverev, Andy Roddick shares his view, admitting that he has had an amazing and incredible career. Roddick pointed out some technical issues that could make Zverev better and also asked the German to be very aggressive from the start.

“I serve the ball and hit the ball a little bit more,” Roddick said. “Do these things where every point of aggression isn’t about picking the right ball and doing something uncomfortable three or four shots into the drive. I think it’s more about blunt force and impact-type aggression, where you choose to do that and play that way from the first ball, and then all of a sudden that makes your stock game of wanting to pull back a little bit more effective.

“I think playing the back end inside out from the back position sometimes, to where people aren’t going to the left to receive the ball, is key.”

Zverev has a big season in 2026 to look forward to. As he grew older and lost his edge on the field, he did not have many years left to assert his authority. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz aren’t going anywhere, so the German will need to develop the belief that he can beat these guys and let his skills do the talking.