Alexander Zverev is set to become the 30th ATP Tour world No 1 following Jannik Sinner’s decision to end his season early.
Zverev was getting incredibly close to the Italian in the rankings, but the star’s journey to the summit of the ATP Tour has now become a foregone conclusion.
Sinner will lose over 3000 ranking points due to withdrawing from the Shanghai Masters, Paris Masters, the Vienna Open, and the ATP Finals, so it’s a question of when rather than if for Zverev.
Zverev’s next port of call is the Shanghai Masters, where he will once again be the top seed. The German has opened up about becoming world No 1 in a recent interview at the Chinese tournament.
Speaking in his pre-tournament interview at the Shanghai Masters, Zverev was asked about becoming world No 1 before the 2026 season is finished.
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“Again I think I yeah it’s definitely talking point. There’s no secret about it. It’s a definitely talking point for everybody at the moment,” said Zverev.
However, the German is more focused on performing to his best abilities match by match rather than looking at the ATP Tour rankings.
“But for me, yeah, I mean, I’m motivated to keep playing. I’m motivated to keep fighting for for good things hopefully. And the only thing that I can control is what I do on the court and my next match.
“And that’s what my focus is on every single time,” said the current world No 2. “And that’s what my motivation is on as well.”
Zverev will play the winner of Wu Yibing and Michael Zheng in the second round of the Shanghai Masters.
The German has been drawn in the same section of the draw as Brandon Nakashima, Matteo Berrettini, Alexander Blockx, Alexander Bublik, and Tomas Machac, so he has not been given an easy route to the latter stages of the event.
China Open finalist Alex de Minaur is currently Zverev’s most likely quarterfinal opponent, although there is a chance the Australian withdraws from the event after suffering a groin injury in Beijing.
He’s also been drawn in the same half of the draw as Novak Djokovic, who could be his semifinal opponent, so Zverev will have his work cut out in Shanghai.
While it is a foregone conclusion that Zverev will become the new world No 1, he will very likely want to do so on his own terms. It would not be a great look to reach the summit of the ATP Tour after a string of early exits in the remainder of the season.
