'Three players have reached the level of Novak Djokovic', says ATP ace



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'Three players have reached the level of Novak Djokovic', says ATP ace

Although the Davis Cup finals are still missing, it is already possible to take stock of the 2021 season. Novak Djokovic finished the year at the top of the ATP ranking for the seventh time in his career, thus surpassing his idol Pete Sampras and further increasing his gap compared to eternal rivals Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

The Serbian phenomenon has won three majors, in addition to having touched the legendary 'Calendar Grand Slam' Stopping him from triumphing at the US Open was Daniil Medvedev, who posted his first Grand Slam and avenged the heavy beating he suffered at the Australian Open.

Despite not having reached any Grand Slam final, 2021 has given Alexander Zverev a lot of satisfaction. The German is the player to have won the most titles this season (6), including the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and the ATP Finals in Turin.

The year for Stefanos Tsitsipas was more discontinuous, the victim of a sharp decline after finding himself two sets ahead in the Roland Garros final. As if that weren't enough, there are rumors of probable elbow surgery for the Hellenic talent.

In a recent interview with Eurosport, Mischa Zverev talked about his brother 'Sascha' and many other topics.

Mischa Zverev on the next season

"Compared to his last ATP Finals victory in 2018, he plays better, more mature, more intelligent and more complete in the overall package," Mischa Zverev said.

"He is the best Zverev there has been so far, but he can get even better. He has improved his volleys a lot, he also reads the game better, he knows when to attack or retreat." The former World No. 25 also analyzed Alexander Zverev's performance and tactics in his 6-4, 6-4 win over Medvedev in Turin.

"The selection of his strokes has also got better and he's moving well, very intelligently, at the moment," Mischa Zverev continued. "Against Medvedev, he found an excellent balance and correctly assessed when he needed to move forward and play calmly.

There were a lot of tempo changes in the game, but it was all controlled." Nadal, currently ranked World No. 6, cut his season short after the Citi Open in August due to a foot injury. "Don't forget Tsitsipas, he was unbelievably strong for half the year," Mischa Zverev added.

"I also believe that someone like [Andrey] Rublev can annoy the other players. We also have to wait and see how things go with Nadal in the coming year. Is he coming back or not? How does he play the clay court season? From my point of view, the new top four are Novak Djokovic, Medvedev, Sascha [Zverev] and Tsitsipas. That's just my feeling; that can, of course, still change."