Alexander Zverev is the new king of men’s tennis. The German will officially replace Jannik Sinner as the ATP world number one on Monday after beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 7-5 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, becoming the 30th man to reach the top of the rankings.
Alexander Zverev (Credits: BBC Sport)
How Alexander Zverev Reached World No. 1
Zverev was already guaranteed to finish 2026 as the year-end number one, but the Vienna victory confirmed he will rise to the summit at the earliest possible date. At 29, he is the second German to reach the pinnacle of the men’s tour after Boris Becker in 1991, and the second-oldest man ever to become world number one for the first time.
The achievement caps a remarkable season: two Grand Slam titles — the French Open and the US Open — and 64 wins from 80 matches. “It’s been a wait but sometimes you have to wait for the best things in life,” said Zverev. “I’m super happy, super thrilled — I have no words for this year.”
The End of the Sinner-Alcaraz Duopoly
At the start of 2026, it seemed unthinkable that anyone other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz could reach number one. Alcaraz began the year with 12,050 points to Sinner’s 11,500, while Zverev sat a distant third on 5,110 — closer to the world’s 2,221st-ranked player than to the top two. The pair had split all eight Grand Slams of 2024 and 2025 between them.
But both missed large chunks of this season through injury, opening the door. Zverev seized it: he secured the year-end number one ranking when Alcaraz lost in Shanghai on October 12, and now becomes the first man other than Sinner and Alcaraz to top the rankings since Novak Djokovic in June 2024. Zverev conceded he would “maybe not” be the world’s best if both rivals were fully fit — but he has efficiently beaten everything in front of him, recording the greatest season of a career that once threatened to fall short of teenage-prodigy expectations.
Next up for the new world number one: a Vienna quarter-final against British number one Arthur Fery, a rematch of their Wimbledon semi-final.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.