Andy Roddick reveals why he won’t criticise Alexander Zverev amid Grand Slam scrutiny

Ewan West 17 Jun 2025 11:54 AM

Alexander Zverev and Andy Roddick.

Former world No 1 Andy Roddick has proclaimed that Alexander Zverev is “pretty clearly” the best player not to have won a Grand Slam title as he defended the German from criticism.

Zverev was a beaten finalist at the ATP 250 tournament in Stuttgart last week, losing 6-3, 7-6(0) to Taylor Fritz. This was Zverev’s first event since his four-set quarter-final loss to Novak Djokovic at the French Open.

The 28-year-old came under fire for his performance against Djokovic as he was outclassed and struggled to impose himself after winning the opening set.

The defeat was a big blow for Zverev in his quest to win his maiden major title, with the French Open his most successful Grand Slam event.

The world No 3 is a three-time major runner-up, having fallen in finals at the 2020 US Open, the 2024 French Open and the 2025 Australian Open.

Speaking on his Served podcast, Roddick highlighted the way Zverev rebounded from his brutal ankle injury at the 2022 French Open and addressed the scrutiny the former world No 2 faces over his Grand Slam record.

“When Zverev was playing [Rafael] Nadal a couple years ago, Roland Garros broke his ankle and couldn’t put any weight on it? At that point, did we think that he would reach a career-high ranking in 2024? Probably not,” said the 2003 US Open champion.

“The biggest mark against him is that he’s not Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], Novak [Djokovic], [Carlos] Alcaraz, or [Jannik] Sinner.

Tennis News

Alexander Zverev responds to Boris Becker criticism after French Open exit

The 6 men to win 3 or more Queen’s Club titles: Andy Murray holds record with four legends joint-2nd

“The biggest knock is that he is pretty clearly the best player to have not won a major at this point in his career. And I’m not talking about right now — ever.

“Does he want to be the best player to have never won a major? Or does he win a major and he goes past people like me and [Daniil] Medvedev and all these other people who his career statistics stack up favourably against, except for the ranking and the major.

“It’s this weird thing where I’m not going to criticise someone for being elite. At majors specifically, because he has to talk about it so much, there is an extra pressure set there… It’s just the margins.

“I’m not going to criticise someone and pretend like they haven’t accomplished a lot because they haven’t accomplished the thing.”

Zverev will play world No 43 Marcos Giron in the opening round of the ATP 500 tournament in Halle on Wednesday.