Alexander Zverev
Alexander Zverev is ranked number three in the world. In this picture, Zverev of Germany celebrates a point in his match against Kyle Edmund of Great Britain during day 5 of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2018 tennis at Foro Italico in Rome, May 17, 2018. Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Dominic Thiem heaped praise on Alexander Zverev after losing to the German in the final of the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday. The Austrian believes his opponent is only behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as the best player on tour at the moment.

Thiem was the first player to beat Nadal on clay in 357 days when he beat the Spaniard in the quarter-finals in Madrid, and owing to that he was expected to pick up his first clay court title of the season.

But Zverev had other ideas despite coming into the final having never beaten the Austrian on clay in their past three meeting on the surface. The German won in straight sets to pick up his third Masters Series title.

Thiem’s deduction about Zverev being the best player on tour behind Federer and Nadal is not farfetched if one looks at the rankings, where the German is ranked world number three. He has also won two titles similar to the players above him in the rankings and Thiem feels he will be a contender when the French Open comes around later in the month.

The world number eight admitted the second Grand Slam of the year will pose a different threat since the men play best of five sets rather than three, which is the norm on the ATP tour, but believes Zverev will go deep if he manages to clear the early rounds when he is most vulnerable.

“It's obviously different (at) best-of-five, ' Thiem said, as quoted on Tennis World USA. “There are a lot of dangerous opponents in the early rounds. I think that he's always the best in the later stages of the tournament.”

“If he has troubles or if somebody can beat him, it's more in the earlier rounds. That's what makes it difficult. For sure, he will go very deep still this year in a Grand Slam. I would say probably now, besides Roger and Rafa, he's the best guy, yeah,” the Austrian added.

Zverev recently revealed he wants to be better than Federer and Nadal before they retire rather than taking over from the two greatest players of the current era. And Thiem feels he is the best of the new generation, who are looking to take over from the original big four, which also includes Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, who are currently struggling for form and fitness respectively.

“'Yeah, for sure results-wise and also playing-wise, he's the best player outside the top (big) four, that's for sure. You just need to look at his results. It's very impressive. He's also very consistent. I mean, he played also Miami finals, this and that.”

Thiem and Zverev arrived in Rome for the Italian Open after their clash in the final of the Madrid Open. The former, however, was unable to carry his momentum from the Spanish capital as he went down in the second round to Fabio Fognini, but the latter has progressed to the quarter-finals where he will take on David Goffin.

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