Alexander Zverev will end 2026 as the ATP's world No 1. The German's place at the top of the year-end rankings was confirmed on Monday 12 October, when Carlos Alcaraz, the only player still able to catch him, lost 7-5 7-6(4) to Zizou Bergs at the Shanghai Masters.
It is the story of the men's season, covered by the ATP, AP and Reuters, and it rewards a player who began the year without a major title.
From nearly-man to double major champion
Zverev had lost his first three Grand Slam finals. In 2026 he finally won one, and then another. At Roland Garros he beat Flavio Cobolli in a five-set final to become the first German man to win the title in the Open Era. In New York he lifted the US Open trophy, dropping only one set after the third round.
In between, he reached the Wimbledon final, where Jannik Sinner beat him on 12 July, and in January he lost an Australian Open semi-final to Alcaraz that lasted five hours and 27 minutes. The ATP puts his record at the majors this year at 25-2, and he is now the first German man to have reached a final at all four.
How the No 1 race was decided
Two absences opened the door. Sinner, the current No 1, has not played since Wimbledon. On 6 October he announced that his season was over because of a knee injury, which means he cannot defend his points from the end of last year. Alcaraz spent close to five months out with a wrist problem this season.
The Spaniard's last chance of overtaking Zverev disappeared in Shanghai. Bergs, ranked 39th, served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, was broken, then won the tie-break 7-4 for the biggest win of his career.
Zverev is still No 2 for now. The ATP says he will move ahead of Sinner on 2 November at the earliest, and the final rankings of the season are published on 23 November.
A place in the record books
- First German to finish a year at No 1. Boris Becker reached No 1 in 1991 but never ended a season there.
- Oldest first-time year-end No 1: he will be 29 years and 217 days old on 23 November, just older than Andre Agassi in 1999 and Andy Murray in 2016.
- 20th player to finish a year at No 1 since the rankings began, and the 30th to reach the top spot when he does so.
"Finishing the season as year-end No 1 is the ultimate achievement in our sport," ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said. Zverev, quoted by AP, called it "a dream come true" and pointed to the work he put in after his serious ankle injury at Roland Garros in 2022.
What comes next
The German is not done yet. On Thursday he beat Alex de Minaur 6-4 6-4 to reach the Shanghai semi-finals, where he faces Alejandro Davidovich Fokina on Saturday as he chases an eighth Masters 1000 title. He then leads the field at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin (15-22 November), which he won in 2018 and 2021.
What it means: in a season when Sinner and Alcaraz were both injured for long periods, Zverev was the one player who kept winning big matches week after week. His challenge in 2027 is to stay No 1 once his two rivals are back at full strength.
Sources
This article was written by TiebreakNews from the reporting below, checked against official results and rankings.
- ATP Tour — Alexander Zverev clinches ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours
- ESPN / AP — Zverev snags No. 1 ranking with Alcaraz loss, Sinner injury
- Al Jazeera / Reuters — Bergs stuns Alcaraz in Shanghai as Zverev claims year's top tennis ranking
- ATP Tour — Jannik Sinner to miss rest of 2026 due to injury
- ATP Tour — Zizou Bergs stuns Carlos Alcaraz in Shanghai for biggest win of his career