“The youngest since” is the precursor Alexander Zverev cannot avoid.
Winning the biggest title of his career at the season-ending ATP Finals in November with wins over the likes of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic only makes comparisons and growing expectations harder to ignore.
And with the addition of eight-time grand slam champion Ivan Lendl added to his coaching fold in 2018, even some of his more credentialed rivals had tipped him to land that breakthrough on the major stages this season.
“I mean, look, I think we know how to win slams, Novak, Rafa, myself,” Federer said after his second-round win on Wednesday. “I think also with Sascha [Zverev] holding the World Tour Finals, I think it's fair to say that even though he has not ripped through those slams yet, he will go deep this year definitely at one of them, maybe even here. We'll see.”
On Monday, fourth seed Zverev’s frustrations boiled over in a fourth-round defeat to Milos Raonic.
Despite the early exit, the 21-year-old was assured of climbing to a career-high world No.3 in the rankings after Australian Open 2019 thanks to Federer’s departure.
But there is no hiding the glaring shortcomings in Zverev’s grand slam record.
It took the precocious German 12 main draw attempts to finally reach his maiden grand slam quarterfinal in Paris last season. He has not progressed that far since.
Fellow 21-year-old Frances Tiafoe reached his first slam quarterfinal on Saturday and 20-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas later joined him after ending Roger Federer’s reign.
Only slightly older, Borna Coric, 22, was due to face Lucas Pouille on Monday for his first appearance in the last eight at a slam.
If there was one thing Zverev had learnt, though, it was not to compare himself to his peers or the greats to have gone before him.
“No, not really,” he said of checking on his peers’ results. “I don't do that too much. I was happy for Foe [Tiafoe] and that he made his first quarter.
“Obviously I'm very close to him. I'm happy that the other young guys are doing well, as well. You know, just all of their first quarters, as well. Nothing but the best for them.
“This is one of many tournaments. You can't really compete every single week saying you made semis there or quarters there, beat that. No, actually I want to be the best, but, yeah, not this week.”
The ATP Finals title run went some way to silencing skeptics about whether Zverev was ready to take the next step up on the grand slam stages.
The downside to that triumph was less time to recharge after a long and largely successful year, a season in which he still walked away with four titles.
Only Rafael Nadal won more.
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“For sure, I didn't have a very long off-season, didn't have a lot of rest,” Zverev said. “But this is us as tennis players. I'm happy how the season ended. I wouldn't want it the other way.”
Where the young German cut a disgruntled figure in post-match press conferences after his early slam departures in recent years, there was a greater sense of perspective in the aftermath of his loss to Raonic.
“Right now I'm not happy, but I'm not depressed either,” he smiled. “It's fine. It's a tennis match. I have learned to take tennis matches as tennis matches and not the end of the world.”