Alexander Zverev is the men's world number one. The German sealed the Zverev world number one ranking by beating Tallon Griekspoor 6-4 7-5 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna, a result that puts him into the quarter-finals and moves him above Jannik Sinner on Monday.
Zverev, 29, becomes the 30th man to top the ATP rankings and the second German after Boris Becker in 1991. He is also the second-oldest man to reach the summit for the first time.
Zverev world number one after Vienna win
The result was a formality in ranking terms but not in match terms. Griekspoor held his ground in the second set before Zverev closed it out. The year-end number one spot had already been secured on 12 October, when Carlos Alcaraz lost in Shanghai.
Zverev knew he could not overtake Sinner before 2 November at the earliest. He now does so at the first opportunity, ending a spell at the top held by Sinner and, before him, Alcaraz — the first man outside that pair to lead the rankings since Novak Djokovic in June 2024.
"It's been a wait but sometimes you have to wait for the best things in life," Zverev said. "I'm super happy, super thrilled - I have no words for this year."
His season: two Grand Slam titles, the French Open and the US Open, and 64 wins from 80 matches. It is the strongest year of a career that had long been measured against expectations set when he emerged as a teenage prodigy.
Sinner and Alcaraz injuries reshape the ATP race
At the start of 2026 the gap looked unbridgeable. Alcaraz led the rankings with 12,050 points, Sinner followed on 11,500, and Zverev sat third on 5,110 — numerically closer to the 2,221st player in the world than to the top two.
The duopoly was real: Sinner and Alcaraz split all eight Grand Slam titles across 2024 and 2025. This season both missed large chunks of the calendar through injury, and the door opened.
Zverev's two major triumphs came without facing either man. He did not meet a top-10 opponent until Ben Shelton in the New York final. He is direct about what that means.
Asked whether he would be the world's best player with both rivals "healthy and at the top of their game", Zverev said: "maybe not". What he has done is beat what was in front of him, week after week, without dropping the matches he was expected to win.
Arthur Fery earns another shot at Zverev
The quarter-final pits Zverev against British number one Arthur Fery, a repeat of their Wimbledon semi-final in July. Fery, 24, reached the last four at SW19 as an unexpected run and has since had to prove it was not a one-off.
He did that in Vienna, beating Italy's Lorenzo Musetti 6-4 5-7 6-4. Fery trailed 4-2 in the decider, broke straight back, then served out while dealing with what appeared to be cramp.
Musetti, a former world number five now ranked 26th after injury, is the highest-ranked player Fery has beaten on the regular ATP Tour. The quarter-final is the next test of whether his level holds against the top of the game.
Norrie falls short as Medvedev survives
Cameron Norrie came within two points of his best win of the season. Serving for the match at 5-3 40-30 against world number five Daniil Medvedev, he went to the net; Medvedev picked off the volley and took the tie-break 7-1 to win 4-6 6-3 7-6.
Norrie, 31, has dropped to 41st and lost in the first round of each of the past three Grand Slams. His tenacity and controlled aggression troubled Medvedev, who punched the court surface in frustration after falling a break down in the decider.
Medvedev, the third seed, arrived in Vienna after winning the Almaty title last week. Second seed Alcaraz also advanced, beating Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-1 7-6 (13-11).
Zverev now plays Fery for a place in the Vienna semi-finals, with the ranking already settled. Read the original report at bbc.co.uk.
