Alexander Zverev’s troubled start as world No 1 sums up dismal year for men’s tennis | Tumaini Carayol

Alexander Zverev had plenty of thoughts in the miserable aftermath of his loss at the Paris Masters last week, a 7-6 (5), 6-2 second-round defeat by Lorenzo Musetti marking him as the first ATP No 1 to lose his first match as the top-ranked player in straight sets.Rather than feeling any pressure surrounding his new status in the buildup to the final Masters 1000 tournament of the year, Zverev had simply been annoyed. “Achieving the world No 1 status is something every player dreams of, but I feel like I’m the only world No 1 in tennis history that has to explain why it’s OK for me to be world No 1. Which I find quite difficult, because I think I deserve to be where I am, even though I lost today.”Zverev’s ascent to the top of the rankings has been the most significant talking point in men’s tennis over the past few months. Injuries are a natural part of elite sport, but no one could have imagined the extent to which they would determine the direction of the season. After becoming the youngest man to win the career grand slam at the Australian Open, Carlos Alcaraz sustained a significant wrist injury that forced him to miss the most hectic part of the year, withdrawing from Roland Garros and Wimbledon before barely making it back for the US Open.Lorenzo Musetti (left) inflicted a straight-sets victory on Alexander Zverev at the Paris Masters. Photograph: Antonio Borga/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty ImagesJannik Sinner’s triumph at Wimbledon marked the end of his season after a knee injury forced him to pull the plug on the rest of the year. Alcaraz and Sinner faced each other in three consecutive grand slam finals in 2025.No matter how much luck they receive on the way, anyone who stands on the podium with a trophy in their hands is the deserved winner. The rankings are a numerical consequence of those results.Zverev won two grand slam tournaments this year and reached three major finals in a row, something few have achieved. Having won the ATP Finals twice – the next one starts on Sunday in Turin – Olympic gold and seven Masters 1000 titles alongside three losses in grand slam finals, there was significant pressure on him to take advantage of the opportunity before him. Unlike so many others, the 29-year-old was mentally tough in the decisive moments.However, none of those facts require fans, analysts, onlookers or other players to feel any particular way about Zverev’s results. This has been a dismal year for men’s tennis, largely because so many players have been injured, struggling to find their way back, or simply not good enough. This includes Musetti, Holger Rune, Jack Draper, Arthur Fils and many others. It would have been an exciting season if there was a vast pool of players prepared to battle in the absence of Alcaraz and Sinner. Instead, the ATP should be concerned about how much of its young talent is struggling to remain fit so early in their careers.Alexander Zverev’s US Open win was his second title of 2026 and the second major in his career. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPAThe vacuum at the top is perfectly illustrated by the statistics that have probably most frustrated Zverev in recent months. His runs closer resembled some ATP 250 events, with the German facing one top-25 opponent on his way to the Roland Garros title, a messy, tense final against the world No 14, Flavio Cobolli.His only top-20 win at the US Open came in the final against the world No 9, Ben Shelton. Despite statistically being the best in the world, he holds a won three, lost nine record against the top 10 this year. Zverev last defeated Alcaraz and Sinner in 2024 and 2023 respectively, losing his past 11 matches against them combined. Although he has improved certain aspects of his game, particularly his second serve, forehand and net play, winning two major titles did not require him to elevate his game. Indeed, the French and US Opens were his only titles this year.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionZverev’s relative lack of popularity has also been shaped by controversy off the court. Two of his former partners, Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea, have accused him of domestic violence. Zverev has repeatedly denied the various allegations. In June, Zverev ended an interview with L’Équipe after being asked whether he finds it unfair that the media continues to reference the allegations. He responded by twice claiming “the accusations have been proven false”.In 2023 the ATP decided not to take disciplinary action after a 15-month independent investigation found “insufficient evidence” to substantiate Sharypova’s allegations that he was emotionally and physically abusive, while in 2024 Zverev and Patea, the mother of their child, settled their dispute out of court.A player can only defeat the opponent in front of them and Zverev has done a supreme job of winning the matches he had in order to capture his first two grand slam titles. However, people are also free to feel underwhelmed and uninterested by his path to No 1. Instead of focusing on those who are less impressed by his achievements and moaning about them, as he has so often done about so many different things for so long, Zverev’s energy could be better spent enjoying those accomplishments.