Alexander Zverev has claimed that Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are on another level to the rest of the field at the US Open.

Twelfth seed Zverev was having a solid run at the last Grand Slam of the year at Flushing Meadows. He defeated compatriot Daniel Altmaier and nineteenth seed Grigor Dimitrov before enduring the longest match of his career to oust sixth seed Jannik Sinner in a five-set thriller.

However, this all came to an abrupt end when he faced top seed and defending champion Alcaraz in the quarter-finals. The Spaniard dominated the match, winning in straight sets 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

During his post-match press conference, the German player was asked what he thought of Alcaraz's game right now and the challenge that he posed for all the best players on the ATP Tour.

In response, Zverev gave high praise to both Alcaraz and 23-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic, who are the New York major's top two seeds. For the latter, he referred to when he played the Serb in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open a few weeks ago.

"I played Novak in Cincinnati. I played Carlos here. I think they’re very similar in level of the game. There’s some things Novak does better and some things Carlos does better. They’re on a level of their own at the moment. Other guys gotta catch up. It’s as simple as that," he said.

This comes after several fans and former players criticized the current top 10 in the ATP Ranking. Most recently, Toni Nadal, who is best known for coaching his tennis legend nephew Rafael, complained that the highest-ranked players of the past were 'better' than those of the present.

Indeed, some fans took Zverev's praise of Alcaraz and Djokovic as an opportunity to reinforce this argument.

"He’s right the rest of the top 10 is extremely weak compared to Alc [Alcaraz] and [Djokovic]," wrote one fan on X, formerly known as Twitter.

"Sadly it’s going to last until someone else comes along. Like Nadal did to Federer, like Djokovic did to Nadal. The current crop will never be good enough. Sadly. Thiem had potential," added another.