Toni Nadal, Rafael Nadal’s uncle and former coach, reckons Novak Djokovic is not the third-best player in the tennis world today after Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner. Toni believes Germany’s Alexander Zverev is currently better than the veteran Serbian.

While Djokovic qualified for the final of the Australian Open recently, Zverev suffered a five-set loss against Carlos Alcaraz in the semis. After his final run, Djokovic leapfrogged Zverev from third place in the PIF ATP rankings. Zverev had qualified for the final of the Australian Open in the previous season and thus lost points after he could not match the same result in 2026.

Meanwhile, Djokovic qualified for the semifinals of all four Slams in 2025 but could not get over the line against Alcaraz and Sinner.

Toni reckons Zverev would have won his maiden Slam title if he had won his semifinal clash against Alcaraz in the Australian Open.

Toni Nadal said in an interview with Radio Estadio, “So he (Zverev) is a dangerous rival and, for me, he’s clearly better than Djokovic is today, but he lacks… the… if he, if Zverev had won that match today (Australian Open semifinals), he probably would have won the final too. It would change him because it gives you extra confidence and takes away the pressure he has to win a Grand Slam.”

On the other hand, Djokovic was content with his Australian Open final run. The veteran also defeated Jannik Sinner in an epic five-set contest in the semifinals.

“It’s great that I was able to beat Jannik in five and really battle Carlos in four close sets. When you draw a line and you make an assessment of what happened last couple weeks, it’s an incredible achievement for me to be able to play finals you know be a couple sets away maybe to win a championship. So of course after a loss it’s a bitter feeling but nevertheless I have to be content with this result.”

Djokovic will next take part in the Qatar Open.