"Novak Djokovic didn't play a lot because he wasn't vaccinated; Rafael Nadal got hurt"- Alexander Zverev on being close to World No. 1 debut in 2022

Alexander Zverev recently spoke about previously being close to rising to a career-defining World No. 1 position two years ago. The German attributed the ankle injury he suffered against Rafael Nadal in the 2022 French Open semifinals as one of the factors that didn't allow him to take over the top of the ATP rankings back then.

Zverev has been in impressive form in 2024, having nabbed two Masters-level titles and compiled a 66-20 win/loss record thus far. Courtesy of his latest triumph at the Paris Masters, the 27-year-old leapfrogged Carlos Alcaraz to become the new World No. 2.

Alexander Zverev had previously been the No. 2 player in the singles rankings for 13 weeks in 2022, thanks to a strong 2021 season and a last-four run at Roland Garros. However, he couldn't fight for the World No. 1 ranking that year, as he was forced to end his 2022 season early due to an ankle injury that he picked up in the second set of his semifinal battle against Rafael Nadal.

In that context, the newly-minted World No. 2 was asked the following question after his Paris-Bercy triumph: whether he would prefer winning his maiden Major title or rising to the No. 1 position. He replied that it was difficult to take the reins of the top rankings without winning a Grand Slam tournament before reminiscing how close he was to achieving the latter feat in 2022 — a year that saw both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal endure several hardships.

"I think it's very difficult to be World No. 1 without winning a slam.I had the chance in 2022 if I would have not gotten injured, so that's rare, because there it was still special occasions," Alexander Zverev told the media after the Paris Masters final. "There, obviously Novak didn't play a lot of events because he wasn't vaccinated. Rafa started the year very strong and got a bit hurt. It was a weird year."

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Alexander Zverev compares 2022 and 2024 ATP seasons: "It was different... but I think now everybody is playing at full strength"

Alexander Zverev won his seventh ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris-Bercy

Carlos Alcaraz later rose to a new career-high ranking of World No. 1 in September 2022 on the back of his maiden Major triumph at the US Open that year. For what it's worth, the young Spaniard greatly benefitted from Rafael Nadal's early exit at Flushing Meadows and Novak Djokovic being prevented from competing due to COVID-19 restrictions in New York at the time.

In that context, Alexander Zverev maintained that the 2024 ATP Tour season was different from 2022 as all top players were at "full strength". He also insisted that there was more work for him to do in order to close in on the World No. 1 ranking.

"It was not like everybody was playing all the tournaments and they were in full strength all the tournaments. So it was different," Alexander Zverev said. "But I think now when everybody is playing and everybody is playing at full strength and everybody is healthy, you have to win Grand Slams to become World No. 1. I'm World No. 2 now, but I'm 3,000 points away from Jannik, more or less, maybe more even."

Currently, Jannik Sinner has an unassailable tally of 11,330 points in the ATP rankings. Zverev and Alcaraz, meanwhile, are at 7,715 and 7,210, respectively.