Alexander Zverev has seen tennis change dramatically since he first arrived on the ATP Tour.
Zverev is currently at his career-high ranking of world number two, after reaching two Grand Slam finals over the past year.
The German won his 24th ATP title at the BMW Open recently, where Zverev beat Ben Shelton in the Munich final.
However, he faced a setback after Zverev was beaten by Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round of the Madrid Open.
Alexander Zverev says what is definitely harder to do in tennis now
After Zverev was beaten in straight sets by the aforementioned Cerundolo, he headed to his post-match press conference.
In this press conference, one of the questions addressed to Zverev concerned whether he thought it was easier to become a top 10 player nowadays compared to previous years.
While Zverev suggested that there were perhaps better players at the very top of the game when he first made a breakthrough, he was adamant that there is more depth on the ATP Tour in 2025.
“Definitely not. It’s much more difficult,” answered Zverev. “The depth of players is much more.
“Before when I remember when I got to the top 10 for the first time in 2017, which was eight years ago, the top 10 was very strong and we had the four best players in the world with Novak [Djokovic], Rafa [Nadal], Roger [Federer], Andy [Murray], Stan [Stan Wawrinka] and [Juan Martin] Del Po[tro].
“Those guys. But the level from 10 to 20 and then 20 to 30 was much lower than it is now. Yes, the top was unbelievable but the depth now is much more.”
How has the ATP top 10 changed since Alexander Zverev first arrived?
Zverev first broke into the top 10 in 2017 after he won his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Italian Open.
At the time, Andy Murray was the world number one, ahead of the likes of Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
The only two players that were in the top 10 at that point and still remain there today are Zverev and Djokovic.
One of the most notable differences is the number of points that the world number three has, with Carlos Alcaraz currently holding 2,605 more points than Wawrinka, who was in third spot in May 2017.
| ATP Rankings (2017.05.22) | ATP Rankings (2025.04.21) | |
| 1 | Andy Murray (10,370) | Jannik Sinner (9,930) |
| 2 | Novak Djokovic (7,445) | Alexander Zverev (8,085) |
| 3 | Stan Wawrinka (5,445) | Carlos Alcaraz (8,050) |
| 4 | Rafael Nadal (5,375) | Taylor Fritz (5,115) |
| 5 | Roger Federer (5,035) | Novak Djokovic (4,120) |
| 6 | Milos Raonic (4,360) | Jack Draper (3,820) |
| 7 | Dominic Thiem (4,145) | Alex de Minaur (3,585) |
| 8 | Marin Cilic (3,765) | Andrey Rublev (3,530) |
| 9 | Kei Nishikori (3,560) | Holger Rune (3,480) |
| 10 | Alexander Zverev (3,150) | Daniil Medvedev (3,290) |
Very little currently separates Zverev and Alcaraz, with Jannik Sinner still world number one despite being banned for three months.
The gap between the top two players could grow even further, as Zverev is the defending champion at the Italian Open.
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