Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Jannik Sinner

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Zverev captured the first major title of his career at the French Open when he beat Flavio Cobolli in the final.He then made the Wimbledon final, losing to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner, before another title run in New York, where he overcame home hope Ben Shelton in the showpiece match.Zverev is second in the ATP world rankings, 1,810 points behind Sinner and 4,140 points ahead of Alcaraz.

He also leads the Race to Turin standings, where points are accumulated across the calendar year rather than the last 12 months as they are in the world rankings.

But with Sinner missing the US Open due to a knee issue and Alcaraz returning at the tournament after a long injury lay-off, does Zverev think he is the best player in the world right now?

“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 [in] this moment, 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.”

Zverev has lost his last 10 meetings against Sinner, including five this year.

He only faced Alcaraz once this season in the semi-finals of the Australian Open and lost in a thrilling five-set battle.

Zverev has also won just two matches this season against players ranked in the top 10 – Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon when he was world No. 9 and world No. 5 Shelton at the US Open. 

His overall record against top-10 players this year is 2-7.

Zverev has a chance to finish the year as world No. 1 as he has just 1,080 points to defend for the rest of the season and Sinner has 3,550.

Speaking about the No. 1 ranking in August, Zverev said: “Of course, that’s a goal. That’s definitely a goal of mine.

“I think still playing the best tennis possible should always be the No. 1 goal because then the results will follow. Winning tournaments will follow. Rankings will follow. 

“So as long as you focus on improving yourself, improving your game and trying to play your best, I think that everything else is just something that will follow after that.”

Zverev suffered heartbreak in his first Grand Slam final at the 2020 US Open when he gave up a two-set lead to lose to Dominic Thiem.

He then lost in two other major finals, to Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open and to Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open, before he got over the line this year.

“I think the scars of the 2020 final, they kind of disappeared after I won in Paris,” he reflected.

“I said it at Wimbledon. Even though I lost the final, I enjoyed the match, I enjoyed being in the Grand Slam final, I enjoyed playing on Centre Court, I enjoyed playing in front of an amazing crowd, in front of some celebrities and all that. I enjoyed doing that.

“Whereas before winning in Paris, I felt a lot of stress all the time, because there was always a question mark, ‘Will I ever win one?’ What I think now is just more of a joy to play those kind of finals.”

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