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Alexander Zverev is the world No. 3, but the German has struggled to beat the two players ranked higher than him - Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner - in recent years. Zverev was unable to close out a five-set victory over Alcaraz in the Australian Open semi-finals this year, and the Spaniard went on to win the tournament.

Meanwhile, Sinner has won his last nine matches against Zverev, seven of which have come since mid-October. That includes the recent Madrid Open final, where the world No. 1 needed just 58 minutes to storm to a 6-1 6-2 victory over the two-time former champion.

And Toni Nadal - Rafael Nadal's uncle and former coach, who helped Zverev during a brief training block last year - has explained exactly why he believes the 24-time title winner suffered such a one-sided defeat to Sinner over the weekend.

Toni and Zverev spoke about Alcaraz and Sinner's dominance while training together in Mallorca last year, and Nadal's uncle says the world No. 3 sees one of them as unbeatable. "A final between the world No. 1 and No. 3 that ends in less than an hour is not normal. I think Zverev came away very defeated," Toni told Radioestadio Noche.

"I asked Zverev if he preferred to play Sinner or Alcaraz, and he said he preferred Alcaraz because he saw Sinner as unbeatable. However, I don't see Alcaraz as inferior to Sinner."

After losing to Sinner in just 58 minutes over the weekend, Zverev admitted there was a large gap between the Italian and the rest of the field. However, he also believes that he, Sinner, Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic are also on their own level.

"Well, I think there's a big gap between Sinner and everybody else right now. It's quite simple. I think there's a big gap between Sinner and everybody else. And I think there's a big gap between Alcaraz, myself, maybe Novak, and everybody else. I think there's two gaps right now," the Tokyo Olympic champion said.

"It's difficult to say that there's not a gap between Sinner and everybody else if he hasn't lost a match in how many Masters events? Since Shanghai. He hasn't lost a match in almost nine months. I think you have to admit that there's a gap between him and everybody else, yeah."

Zverev, Sinner and the rest of the tour will now turn their attention to the Italian Open, the final Masters 1000 tournament before the French Open. Sinner will be looking to become just the second man in history to win all nine Masters events at least once, joining Djokovic. He faces either Sebastian Ofner or Alex Michelsen in his opening match.

No. 2 seed Zverev will be hoping to bounce back from his brutal defeat in the Madrid final. The 29-year-old will take on countryman Daniel Altmaier in his first match.

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