Zverev joins call for younger players to step up against Big 3

Alexander Zverev says that his generation of players need to find ways to step up and defeat the Big 3 if they are going to win the biggest events.

According to the 22-year-old German, thirty-somethings Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are still firmly established at the top of the game.

"Yeah, I think they're going to be around for a while," he told press before Wimbledon. "Its for us to decide whether we're gonna compete with them or whether we're actually going to beat them at some point during the big tournaments."

Zverev has won three Masters titles and the ATP Tour Finals, scoring wins against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic to do it. But he has yet to get beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Another young player—and rival—Stefanos Tsitsipas, 20, defeated Federer at the Australian Open, but did not win the event.

Zverev, who is ranked No. 5, says pulling it off at a major is still the larger goal.

"[None] of us has done it yet," he said. "I've beaten a few guys obviously in Masters Series and the World Tour Finals—if we talk about Grand Slams, they still win pretty much everything. It's for one of us young guys to take that away a little bit."

The statement echoes recent comments by the No. 6-ranked Tsitsipas, who also called on his age group to improve their level.

"It would give it a little bit of variety, something different to these guys," Tsitsipas told press at the ATP event at the Queen's Club. "We are responsible as the new generation to work hard to come up with something new and our best games to beat those guys."

The pair are the youngest players in the Top 10 in the rankings.