John McEnroe has weighed in with his prediction on who will end the year as the ATP’s year-end world No 1, with the battle between Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner hotting up heading into the indoor season.
For the last three years, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have dominated men’s tennis, winning nine consecutive Grand Slam titles from the 2024 Australian Open through to this year’s edition of the same event.
Indeed, last season, they faced each other in three consecutive Grand Slam finals and looked set to have many more clashes in 2026.
However, both have suffered worrying physical issues throughout the season, meaning one of the pair was absent from the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
In April, Alcaraz suffered a wrist injury that forced him to miss the clay-court and grass-court seasons before finally returning to the tour in New York. He had also withdrawn from the Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati.
Meanwhile, Sinner suffered full-body cramps during his shock second-round exit at the French Open before withdrawing from the North American hard-court season with a lingering knee issue.
As a result, Zverev has taken advantage, claiming the trophy at both the French Open and the US Open, in addition to reaching his maiden Wimbledon final.
At the moment, the German leads the Live Race to Turin with 8650 points, ahead of Sinner’s 7950 and well clear of Ben Shelton’s 4430 and Alcaraz’s 4050.
The Race to Turin only considers points collected during the 2026 season and will be used to determine who ends the year atop the ATP rankings.
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McEnroe, who is a former world No 1 himself, weighed in with his analysis and believes that Zverev is now ‘probably’ going to take the the world No 1 off Sinner.
“I see it as, unfortunately, Alcaraz got hurt and Sinner got hurt, but they had proven to be the two best players, and Sascha was right behind them, but he felt there was a gap between them,” commented the American during an interview with Italian outlet SuperTennisTV.
“But look, you never know in sports, and all of a sudden at the end of the year he’s probably going to be number one, so I don’t think he even expected it! So that’s the thing about sports, you never know.”
“In some ways it’s great, but we need the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry and them to stay healthy.”
However, while he believes the German will reach the world No 1 spot for the first time in his career, McEnroe has picked Alcaraz as the best player on tour when he is playing at his absolute best.
The Spaniard leads his head-to-head record against Sinner 10-7 and against Zverev 7-6, including winning four of his last five meetings with the German.
“I think when they’re both playing their best, my personal opinion is that Carlos Alcaraz is the best player,” said McEnroe during a pre-Laver Cup event.
“Jannik obviously is an incredible player and if Carlos is a little bit off his game then I believe Sinner’s the best. But now that they’ve both been injured, I just want both of them to stay healthy, please, both of you stay healthy!”
