Alexander Zverev will become the men's world number one on Monday, 2 November, after defeating Tallon Griekspoor 6-4, 7-5 at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna to reach the quarter-finals, according to the BBC.
The 29-year-old German had already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking, but the win in Austria means he takes the top spot at the first date it was mathematically possible, replacing Jannik Sinner.
Zverev is the second German man to hold the No. 1 ranking, following Boris Becker, who first reached the summit in 1991. He is also the second-oldest man to top the rankings for the first time.
Why it matters
For most of the past two seasons, the men's tour has been defined by a duopoly. Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner split all eight Grand Slam titles between them across 2024 and 2025, and at the start of this year the gap between the pair and the rest of the field was enormous.
The BBC reports that Alcaraz began 2026 on 12,050 points and Sinner on 11,500, while Zverev, then third, had 5,110 — a total the BBC notes was numerically closer to the player ranked 2,221st than to the top two.
That picture changed because both leading players missed large stretches of the season through injury. Zverev's rise ends a run in which only Sinner and Alcaraz had held the No. 1 position since Novak Djokovic in June 2024.
A season built on taking chances
Zverev's year has produced two Grand Slam titles and 64 wins from 80 matches, per the BBC. He won the French Open and the US Open, though neither triumph required him to beat Sinner or Alcaraz, and he did not face a top-10 opponent until Ben Shelton in the New York final.
The year-end No. 1 ranking was confirmed on 12 October, when Alcaraz lost in Shanghai. Zverev could not overtake Sinner before 2 November, and the Vienna win ensured he will do so on that date.
Zverev was candid about the circumstances. According to the BBC, he said he would "maybe not" be the best player in the world if both rivals were healthy and playing at their peak. He described the achievement as long-awaited, saying that sometimes the best things in life require patience.
The BBC framed the season as the strongest of a career that had, at times, looked likely to fall short of the expectations placed on him since he emerged as a teenage prospect.
Fery sets up a Wimbledon rematch
The quarter-final in Vienna will pair Zverev with Britain's Arthur Fery, a repeat of their meeting in the Wimbledon semi-finals in July.
Fery, 24, reached the last four at Wimbledon in an unexpected run and backed it up in Austria with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Italy's Lorenzo Musetti. The BBC reports that Fery trailed 4-2 in the deciding set before breaking back immediately and serving out the match despite what appeared to be cramping.
Musetti, a former world No. 5, is now ranked 26th after injury, and the BBC describes the result as Fery's best win by ranking on the regular ATP Tour.
Norrie falls just short; Alcaraz advances
Elsewhere in Vienna, Cameron Norrie came within two points of his best result of the season before Daniil Medvedev saved match point and won 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-1).
Norrie, 31, served for the match at 5-3, 40-30 in the decider, but Medvedev, the third seed and fresh from winning the Almaty title the previous week, recovered to take the tie-break. The BBC notes that Norrie has slipped to 41st in the rankings and has lost in the first round of each of the past three Grand Slams, though his performance against Medvedev showed the tenacity and controlled aggression that have defined his game.
Second seed Alcaraz, meanwhile, moved on with a 6-1, 7-6 (13-11) win over Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili.
What to watch: whether Zverev marks his first week at No. 1 with a title in Vienna, beginning with the quarter-final against Fery.
