The German bowed out in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros and suffered first and third round exits at Wimbledon and the US Open, respectively.
Zverev, now 28 years old, still has plenty of time in his career to capture an elusive Grand Slam crown, but he will certainly find it harder as ATP numbers one and two, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, continue to get better.
This year, Alcaraz and Sinner have dominated the major scene, with the Spaniard and the Italian contesting three of the four finals.
One of those championship matches featured a level of tennis that Zverev claimed tennis has not seen before.
Alexander Zverev reacts to the dominance of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
The world number three said in a press conference ahead of the Laver Cup: “I mean, look, the French Open final, yes. I think it was a tennis match that, in many ways, we have never seen before, just from the speed.
“The way tennis has been played, yes, we’ve had great champions in the last 15 years and great matches with Rafa, Roger, Novak.
“There were some tennis matches there that will be remembered for the rest of our lives, but the way tennis has been played in this French Open final, was something that we’ve never seen before.
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“Not like good or bad. Just the style of tennis, in my opinion. It was great to see, great to watch. Yeah, those two guys, Carlos and Jannik, right now they’re ahead of everybody else.
“I think it’s our job from everybody else to catch up and to be on that level and try to compete with them.
“This year, nobody could do it. Hopefully, in my own perspective, we can be or we will be able to do it more next year.”
Carlos Alcaraz reflects on the French Open final with Jannik Sinner
Alcaraz recalled: “For me, I remember obviously the feeling that I had in that match that I was playing great until that match balls down. I felt like it was about the tennis, that it is that score.
“I believed all the time that I was able to come back, that I was able to win that match, and I think that that’s the most important thing from my perspective, just to believe all the time, not to give up, just to keep trying.
“Yeah, I thought in that match that I was going to win, and I think that that was the best thing that I could think in that moment.
“Apart from that, I tried to use the people, the good shots, the good points, the good rallies to my favour just to try to push me up in that moment.
“You know, after that, everything went great. Physically, it was really demanding, but I stayed there all the time until a really tight final of five sets. As I said, again, I think it was all about believing.”
His Laver Cup captain, Yannick Noah, said: “That was probably the greatest match of all time. Yes, it was good for tennis, for sure.”
Sinner and Alcaraz have since faced off in the finals of both Wimbledon and the US Open, and while the quality in those matches was just as good, they did not match the thrill of their clash in Paris.
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