Jannik Sinner may have been ahead of the curve when it came to Alexander Zverev’s push for the No 1 ranking.
Prior to Zverev‘s French Open win in June, which finally ended his long journey for a maiden Grand Slam, the 29-year-old was behind Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP Tour rankings.
The German lost to eventual champion Alcaraz in the semi-finals of the Australian Open, capitalised on Sinner falling early at Roland Garros and the Spaniard being out with a wrist injury, before losing to the Italian in the Wimbledon final.
That was his fifth loss to Sinner in 2026, which left him nearly 5,000 ranking points behind the five-time major winner. The 6ft 6in player did push him close in a four-set defeat, but it still seemed like he was not at Sinner and Alcaraz’s level.
In light of Zverev beating Ben Shelton in four sets to win his first US Open on Sunday, Sinner’s speech on Centre Court seems more and more prophetic.
More Tennis News
Want more from Tennis365? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for tennis coverage you can trust.
“I would like to start with you and your whole team and family. You reached one of your main goals in winning a Grand Slam and made it happen in Paris,” he said.
“Today was so, so close and if you play like this I am very, very sure you are going to have this one at home as well. Amazing. Keep going. I know the goal is for you to become number one in the world and you are very close, so I have to be very careful now!”
Fast forward to the present and the race for the world end No 1 ranking is hotting up. Sinner is currently 1,810 points ahead of Zverev in the ATP Tour rankings but in the ATP Race, the two-time major winner leads the Italian by 700 points.
Sinner is still out with a knee injury and it remains to be seen when he will return and how effective he will be when he does. Alcaraz has just returned from four months out with a knee injury and is currently fourth in the Race behind Shelton. Zverev, though, will firmly have his sights set on finishing the year as top dog.
On that note, Zverev was asked if he felt he was the best tennis player in the world right now. He pointed out that when Alcaraz and Sinner were healthy he wasn’t, but right now, there is an argument to say yes.
“You have to take everything into consideration,” he said. “With Jannik Sinner being injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, probably yes. Both of them healthy and both of them at the top of their game, maybe not.
“But if we say right, right now with Jannik being injured and Carlos coming back from injury, maybe. I mean, four, five months ago when both of them were healthy, I wasn’t. I was losing to Jannik all the time. So if everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead. It’s as simple as that.”
An intriguing end to the season lies ahead.
READ NEXT: John McEnroe calls for rule change after what Alexander Zverev did during US Open final
