Does Alexander Zverev deserve to be world number one?
With current world number one Jannik Sinner having not played a tennis match since his win vs. Zverev in mid-July, now we are in early October, and Zverev, with triumphs in the US Open men's singles, has closed the points gap between himself and Sinner.
Zverev and current number one Jannik Sinner at the Wimbledon final in July 2026, (Image Credits to Tennis Temple)
Zverev in fact had the opportunity to dethrone Jannik Sinner from his 92-week run as world number one just earlier this week. That was until he got beaten by legend Novak Djokovic, the Serbian, who had just won the men's singles final at the Beijing Open after Mendeleev's disqualification for hitting a fan in the stands with a tennis ball provided him with automatic qualification. Djokovic has recently dropped outside of the top ten with early exits in both the US and Cincinnati Opens
There are a few important things to consider whether Zverev is worthy of the ATP top ranking. These include his results against top-ten players, his dependency on others' misfortune, and arguably his off-court controversy.
Firstly, I do not wish to get too deep into his off-court controversies; if you want to look into this further, then I definitely recommend googling it so you can fully understand why a majority of fans are reluctant to have Alexander as the face of the sport. However, due to further controversy surrounding how it was handled by the ATP and Zverev himself, and the repercussions for certain journalists and their careers who were covering the situation, as a result of this, I am choosing not to discuss it here.
Returning to one court action, most importantly, to assess whether Zverev is deserving of the top ranking, we must examine his previous results this year against other players in the top ten. Alexander Zverev is currently 2-8 vs. players in the top ten this year, with his only wins coming against Taylor Fritz (world number seven at the time) at Wimbledon, where he won 6-4, 6-4, 6-2. His only other win against a player in the top ten came against Fritz's fellow compatriot Ben Shelton, where Zverev won 6-3, 7-6(7-2), 5-7, 6-2 in the final of the US Open. It is important to note that Shelton was ranked ninth at the time of the US Open final in early September. Putting it into perspective, this means that Zverev has lost 80% of his matches VS. a player in the top ten rankings.
What about his two Grand Slam championships this year? Zverev's main claim to the number one spot, except for "the rankings don't lie," comes from his Grand Slam triumphs in Roland Garros and the US Open. His victory in Roland Garros was Zverev's first-ever Grand Slam victory. However, first we must evaluate the games and opponents faced in the run-up to these title triumphs.
In May 2026 at the Roland Garros tournament, Zverev did not play a player inside the ATP top 25 rankings until he met Flavio Cobolli in the final. Flavio was ranked 12th globally at the time. Interestingly, only one other player ranked in the top ten made it to the quarterfinals besides Zverev. This was Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was ranked sixth globally and, importantly, lower than Zverev in the rankings; he went home in the quarters to Flavio Cobolli.
With Sinner's early shock exit VS Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round of the tournament and Carlos Alcaraz being ruled out with his wrist injury at the time, by the time the third round rolled around, Alexander Zverev was the highest-ranked player at the tournament, so this combined with the fact that he did not face a player inside the top 25 rankings means arguably, it was Zverev's title to lose.
The same can be argued for his Men's singles US Open title, ranked second in the world going into the tournament, Jannik Sinner, men's number one, had just been ruled out temporarily (at the time) with an injury to his right knee. We now understand that Sinner's 2026 season is over, hence Zverev's imminent ascension to World Number One.
Firstly, I hope Jannik recovers swiftly, but importantly for Zverev at the US Open, his main competitor for the title has now been ruled out of contention. Carlos Alcaraz, who had just returned from the wrist injury that sidelined him for nearly 5 months, lost to finalist Ben Shelton in a 5-set quarter-finals game. Once again, Zverev did not play a match against a player ranked in the top twenty besides Luciano Darderi in the round of 16 (ranked 20th at the tournament). This was until he played Ben Shelton in the final and recorded one of just his two wins against a player in the top ten ATP rankings, winning 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 over the American player.
Now you might be wondering why I focus so much on the rankings of Zverev's opponents and his on-court statistics. Now, Sinner has called it quits on his 2026 season. Zverev is set to finish the year as world number one. His claim to his new title as number one, however, is down to his 'consistency'. Jannik Sinner in 2026 has won 44 of the 47 games he played this year (win rate of 93%) and has won 2/3 of the tournaments he has played this year (6 out of 9 played). Carlos Alcaraz, prior to his wrist injury, had completed the career Grand Slam in Melbourne and had a win rate of 31-4 (88% win rate) in the 2026 season. Zverev has struggled against both Sinner and Alcaraz, but also against Novak Djokovic, who recently defeated Zverev last week in the quarterfinals of the Beijing 6-4, 4-6,4-6 before progressing to win the whole tournament (admittedly, a tad of good luck was on his side).
But it is undeniable that Zverev's record against not only top 10 players but his three main rivals in tennis is less than convincing in his pursuit of the number one ranking and even brings up the question of whether he has even been the best player in the world this year or is he just stat-padding against lower-ranked opponents?
Despite personal opinions, congratulations to Zverev on his imminent number one ranking.
Article Written by Olive W
