Alexander Zverev believes he can be considered the best player in the world after winning the US Open but admits this wouldn’t be the case if all players on the Tour were fit.
The German world No.2 captured his first US Open title on Sunday with a four-set win over Ben Shelton, who was bidding to become the first man from his country to win the tournament since 2003. The triumph completes what has been Zverev’s best-ever season at the majors. At the French Open, he won his first Grand Slam title by defeating Flavio Cobolli. Elsewhere, he was runner-up at Wimbledon and a semi-finalist at the Australian Open.
However, Zverev has reached only one Tour-level final this year outside the four major events, at the Madrid Open. He also reached the semi-finals at three masters 1000 events.
“I don’t think I’m the most talented in any way. I don’t think I’m a God-given talent like some other guys are,” Zverev said after his US Open win.
“Most of my tennis is through hard work, through a lot of hours spent on the court, and through a lot of hours spent in the gym and on the track. “
An interesting element of Zverev’s 2026 results is that he has achieved all this success despite beating only two top-10 players since January. They were Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon and Shelton at the US Open. In total, he has played a top-10 player nine times during this period, losing to Jannik Sinner five times, Fritz once and Carlos Alcaraz once.
However, it’s about seizing the moment for Zverev as he acknowledges his biggest challengers are dealing with physical issues. Alcaraz’s appearance at the US Open was his first tournament played since April due to a wrist injury. Meanwhile, Sinner is dealing with a knee issue.
“You have to take everything into consideration. With Jannik Sinner being injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now this moment, probably yes,” he replied when asked if he was the best player in the world.
“Both of them healthy and both of them at the top of their game, maybe not.
“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.”
As it currently stands, Zverev is more than 4000 points ahead of Alcaraz in the rankings. However, he is 1810 points behind Sinner in the race for No.1.
