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Alexander Zverev has hit back at critics who believe him to be the 'worst World No. 2' in history. Zverev was widely expected to surpass World No. 1 Jannik Sinner and assume the top spot during the Italian's enforced 90-day absence from the game after failing a drug test. Instead, Sinner returns to competition this week at the Italian Open still entrenched as the world's top-ranked player.
With Sinner back in action, the No. 1 spot looks further away than ever for Zverev. Zverev has enjoyed top seeding at the tournaments in Sinner's absence, but next week he'll return to the number two seed, and the Italian will assume the role of top seed at his home tournament.
Alexander Zverev is his own biggest critic. At the player's press conference, ahead of the Italian Open next week, Zverev discussed his current standing. He acknowledged that he hadn't played as well as he'd expected but deserved more respect than the media gives him.
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"I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich. All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there. Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results," he said.
Zverev insisted that all players have bad patches during a season, and the top players eventually come through those patches. He added:
"There are periods in a player's career... Do you think Novak is happy with his results? Do you think Carlos is happy with his results? I'm not happy with my results. At the end of the day in big matches, big moments, I still believe the top players will rise. And I still believe that I am going to find my tennis for the biggest tournaments.”
Alexander Zverev has dropped from second to third in the live rankings. The German has been overtaken by Carlos Alcaraz, who is now 755 points ahead of him, and 1880 points behind Sinner.
Alexander Zverev remains hopeful of achieving targets despite enduring difficult start to 2025
While Sinner was away, Alexander Zverev found the going tough. After losing to the Italian in the Australian Open final, his best outings were quarterfinals in Rio and Argentina, before he finally picked up a trophy at the BMW Open in Munich, where he beat American Ben Shelton in the final in straight sets. He then exited the Madrid Open early, beaten in the third round by Francisco Cerundolo.
Despite a tumultuous start to his season, Zverev remains confident that he can achieve his goal of becoming the world's best player. In the above-mentioned press conference, he noted:
“People talk a lot about the No. 1 in the world. Everybody says it's a dream. It could be an obsession as well? World No. 1? It would be nice. I don't know. I have not been there. I believe I will. So we'll see how it goes."
Alexander Zverev begins his assault on the Italian Open title on Friday. He last won the title in 2017 and was a finalist in 2018. If he is to get closer to Sinner in the rankings, he'll need to repeat those performances next week.
