Alexander Zverev was denied the chance to compete for his first ATP Masters 1000 title of the season after losing to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters.
Eventual champion Davidovich Fokina eliminated top seed Zverev by coming back from a set down to win, before doing the same in the final against Rafael Jodar to clinch his third tour-level crown, and first at ATP Masters 1000 level.
With Carlos Alcaraz’s early exit from the Shanghai Masters, Zverev secured year-end world number one status for the first time in his career, but the German is not actually officially at the top of the rankings just yet.
When Alexander Zverev can leapfrog Jannik Sinner in the rankings
As it stands, Zverev is still the world number two with 10,070 ATP points to his name. The leader, Jannik Sinner, still has 10,950 ATP points, despite calling an early end to his season due to an ongoing knee injury that has kept him sidelined since the Wimbledon final.
Sinner will lose 500 points by missing the upcoming Vienna Open, where he won the title last season, bringing him down to a total of 10,490. Zverev is set to compete in Vienna and will need to advance to the semifinals of the ATP 500 tournament to become the new world number one on 2 November.
On Monday, Sinner increased his total weeks-at-number-one tally to 94, which ranks 10th all-time. He is not far behind ninth-placed Andre Agassi, who tallied 101 weeks at number one in his career. Sinner’s current reign, which started after winning the Monte-Carlo Masters earlier this year, has lasted 28 weeks.
Zverev is set to become the first German world number one since Boris Becker in 1991, and the first from his country, man or woman, to be first in the rankings since Angelique Kerber in 2017.
Alexander Zverev’s competition at the Vienna Open
Zverev is on the verge of making unwanted history, as he is on track to become the year-end number one with the fewest titles in a season ever. The fewest titles won in a season by a year-end number one is four, recorded by Rafael Nadal in 2019, Novak Djokovic in 2018, Roger Federer in 2009 and Pete Sampras in 1998.
Zverev has won two titles this year: Roland Garros and the US Open. He has come up short in finals at the Madrid Open and Wimbledon, as well as in several semifinals. The 29-year-old will be looking to add to his season tally in Vienna, where he will be up against it.
Alcaraz will also be competing at the Vienna Open, having received a late wildcard for the event. Zverev’s competition also includes Daniil Medvedev, Alex de Minaur and Frances Tiafoe.