Alexander Zverev’s time in the Shanghai Masters came to an end as he was beaten in the semifinals by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

The German took the first set against the Spaniard, but Davidovich Fokina fought back to win the next two sets 6-4, 6-3 to set up an all-Spanish final with Rafael Jodar in Shanghai.

Zverev has finally come of age at the very top of men’s tennis this year by winning Roland Garros and the US Open; the first Grand Slam titles of his career.

However, they are the only titles Zverev has managed to claim, in a very strange turn of events for the player who has already been confirmed to finish at the year-end world No 1.

As a result, Zverev is very close to setting an ATP Tour record that he will undeniably be very unhappy about.

Zverev is currently set to become the year-end world No 1 with the fewest titles in the history of men’s tennis, and by a large margin.

The current lowest number of titles from a year-end world No 1 is four, with Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and Rafael Nadal sharing the unfortunate record.

Fewest titles in a season from a year-end world No 1

- Alexander Zverev – 2* (2026)

- Pete Sampras – 4 (1998)

- Roger Federer – 4 (2009)

- Novak Djokovic – 4 (2018)

- Rafael Nadal – 4 (2019)

Zverev has a couple more opportunities to earn himself enough titles not to achieve the unwanted record.

The German is set to play the Vienna Open, the Paris Masters, and the ATP Finals before the year is out, but he will need to win at least two of those tournaments.

Judging by his post-match comments after losing to Davidovich Fokina, that could be very difficult for the upcoming world No 1.

“I mean, I think, first, I’m not a robot, I’m a human being, I get tired. It’s like this. After the US Open, I had one day off in total,” said Zverev about his current fitness.

“I think I played a lot of tennis, which is very, very positive because that means I played well. I think even here I had tough matches. I personally feel like I was quite flat since the Bublik match, because I was losing energy.

“I played a phenomenal match against Alex de Minaur, but today I was flat. Even in the first set, even though I won the set, I was flatter, I was not reacting so well. I was returning quite badly. But I think, again, we’re all human beings, even the best players in the world.”

Zverev has undoubtedly had a very good season that he will be very happy with, but he will certainly not want to become the world No 1 with the fewest titles in a calendar year.

The pressure is now on Zverev to turn his Grand Slam winning fortunes into ATP Tour title triumphs in Vienna, Paris, and Turin.