It has all come together for Alexander Zverev in three months. He was long considered one of the best players not to have won a Grand Slam. Roland Garros changed that and opened the floodgates.

Zverev has since reached the Wimbledon final and clinched a maiden US Open title. He is only the fourth man in the Open era — after Jimmy Connors, Guillermo Vilas and Jannik Sinner — to win his first two Majors in the same season. He is also drawing closer to numero uno Sinner in the ATP rankings, trailing by 1,810 points with two Masters 1000 events and the ATP Tour finals still to come.

But there is an asterisk over his achievements. Carlos Alcaraz didn’t play the French Open and Sinner wilted in the Paris heat in Round 2. Alcaraz missed Wimbledon due to a wrist injury and Sinner beat Zverev in the final at SW19. At Flushing Meadows, Sinner was out with a knee issue and a returning Alcaraz was ousted in the quarters before Zverev could face him.

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The real test for the 29-year-old German arises when both Sinner and Alcaraz are fit and on song. The facts speak for themselves: of the 12 Slams played from 2024 to 2026, 10 have been won by Sinner or Alcaraz. Further, Zverev has lost his last 10 matches against the Italian, and lost four of his last five matches against the Spaniard.

The world No. 2 accepts this reality. Asked on Sunday after his New York triumph about whether he was now the top men’s player on the circuit, Zverev gave a balanced response.

“You have to take everything into consideration,” he said. “With Jannik Sinner being injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, probably yes. Both if they are healthy and both of them at the top of their game, maybe not.”

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Zverev added, “Four, five months ago when both of them were healthy, I wasn’t (the best player). I was losing to Jannik all the time. So if everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead. It’s as simple as that.”

Alexander Zverev celebrates after he won the men’s singles final of the US Open tennis championships against Ben Shelton.

Zverev’s game is distinguished in its own right. His serving is arguably second to none right now, as stated by losing US Open finalist Ben Shelton. His groundstrokes from the baseline and beyond can unsettle anybody. Zverev remains a nightmare for left-handers like Shelton – of his last 46 matches against lefties, he has won 45. He in fact has a staggering 88-18 overall record against left-handers. The strong crosscourt backhand returns land in lefties’ forehands, which makes it harder for them to attack the way they do with other righties.

However, the gold standard for greatness is how you stack up to the very best at that point of time. Andy Murray realised it cruelly in the ‘Big Three’ era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Though the Briton was generously included in the alternative ‘Big Four’, he largely remained in the shadow of Federer-Nadal-Djokovic. Murray even reached No. 1 but could not dominate the way the trio did, finishing with three Slam titles.

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Zverev finds himself in a similar space in the ‘Sincaraz’ era. He has done well to break the no-Slam jinx, but can he sustain it once his younger adversaries are back in top gear? It remains to be seen.