“Modesty aside, ranking aside, do you think you’re the best tennis player in the world right now,” he replied. “With Yannick Sinner injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, at this point, probably yes. Both healthy and both at the top of their game, maybe not.”
He went further than the fence. “Four, five months ago, when both were healthy, I wasn’t. I kept losing to Yannick. So if everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead. It’s that simple.”
The modesty shown by Zverev on Sunday evening was not modesty. He has not beaten Yannick Sinner in three years, since the fourth round of the US Open in September 2023, and Sinner has won after 10 meetings. He has not beaten Carlos Alcaraz since the round-robin match at the ATP Finals in November 2024, and before that, not since the quarterfinals of the Australian Open that year.
Above all, he never beat either of them for the title. Both have played in all six finals against him, Sinner at the Australian Open in 2025, Vienna in 2025, Madrid in April and Wimbledon in July, Alcaraz in Madrid in 2022 and the Roland Garros final in 2024. It’s the “if everyone else is healthy, I think Yannick is still as ordinary” record.
The numbers say Alcaraz and Guilty
What has changed in 2026 is the rest of the sentence. Alcaraz missed four months and Roland Garros and Wimbledon, Sinner is now injured, and in that gap Zverev has put up two Grand Slam titles, 53 wins, a 25-2 record at major tournaments and the lead in the Race to Turin. The two defeats are the point rather than the exception. Alcaraz beat him in five sets in the Australian Open semifinals, Sinner beat him in the Wimbledon final, and no one has taken a fight from him at that level all year. Zverev has beaten the two of them 10 times in 28 attempts and never when the title was on the line, marking the 2027 season.
The record he was talking about is the best of anyone this season. Zverev leads the ATP Tour with 53 wins and 25 at the Grand Slam level, going 25-2 at majors with two losses to two players he named: Alcaraz at the Australian Open and Sinner in the Wimbledon final.
He reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slams for the first time in his career, the ninth man to do so in the Open era, and three consecutive finals. The title takes him 700 points clear of Sin at the summit of the Tour de France run, having only overtaken him on Friday.
I don’t think I’m a God-given talent like other guys.
The injuries he mentioned shaped the year as much as his form. Alcaraz missed Roland Garros and Wimbledon, both tournaments Zverev and Sinner then won, and returned here as the defending champion before losing to Shelton in the quarterfinals. However, Siner was eliminated at the US Open.
Zverev was also asked about Shelton’s description of himself as the hardest worker on the tour, and responded by refusing to claim what he didn’t earn. “I think I’m up there, for sure, because I’ve said it before, I don’t think I’m the most talented. I don’t think I’m God’s talent like other guys. I think a lot of my tennis is about hard work, a lot of hours on the court and a lot of hours in the gym and running.
