Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner & Holger Rune will be difficult for Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas to beat, says tennis analyst

Tennis analyst Gill Gross recently claimed that Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas' window to win their maiden Major titles may be on the verge of closing.

Zverev and Tsitsipas were one of the best young prospects a few years ago, reaching the top five of the ATP rankings in their early 20s. However, they have failed to make their mark at the Grand Slam tournaments lately.

The rise of Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune has also considerably halted their charge. The young trio has defeated them in 16 of their 29 encounters to date, proving their credentials at the top of the game.

In that context, Gill Gross was asked by one of his fans during his weekly "Monday Match Analysis" podcast whether Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas could win a Major title in the near future. In response, the American analyst said the German and the Greek will not have an easy time on the ATP tour once the younger generation hits their physical prime.

"I don't think that's it's gonna get any easier on the outside in the next few years, and that includes when Djokovic is finally kind of done at the top and declines a bit..." Gill Gross said during his podcast (31:21).

"Alcaraz, Sinner, Rune... all three are going to be, first of all, they are already great players, but when they are fully realized and fully formed, they are going to be extraordinarily difficult to beat for Zverev and Tsitsipas," he added.

While the analyst conceded that the duo will likely enjoy long careers, he believes they might not be Major challengers in their current form.

"If they don't get better, I think the window is closed, but the reason I wouldn't say the window is closing soon or is closed is because they are still not old. They are still both mid-20s... you can't really say the window is closing all that soon in theory," he said (32:41).

"They should have 34 years or more, but I think if they're going to win a Major in their current iterations, I think that ship has sailed. That window is closed."

Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas could've won the US Open in 2020-22, says Gill Gross

Alexander Zverev breaks into tears after losing the 2020 US Open final from two sets up

During the podcast, Gill Gross also listed down the 2020, 2021 and 2022 editions of the US Open as the tournaments where Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas had a plausible shot at winning their first-ever Major title.

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic either sat out of the New York Slam in those years due to external factors, or saw their campaign fall apart unexpectedly.

"There have been times when some of the greats, some of the players who are better than Zverev and Tsitsipas for some reason couldn't compete. Like, US Open 2020 was an opportunity... Nadal wasn't there, Djokovic had a freak DQ," Gross said (29:42).

"US Open 2022 was kind of an opportunity. You had a Slam-less, younger Alcaraz. And you had no Djokovic because of the COVID policy," he added. "And you had Nadal not playing at a high level, dealing with the ab injury and not serving well at all. I would say US Open 2021 in some ways was an opportunity too. Alexander Zverev in that one, he kind of had a chance there because he pushed Djokovic to a fifth set."

While Alexander Zverev has reached just one Major final in his career thus far, Stefanos Tsitsipas has had a shot at Grand Slam glory twice. Zverev lost the 2020 US Open final to Dominic Thiem from two-sets-to-love up, and Tsitsipas was downed by Novak Djokovic in the 2023 Australian Open and the 2021 French Open finals.