Germany's Alexander Zverev will return to the world's Top 10 on the ATP Tour at the start of next week after a resurgent second half of the season.
A year ago, Zverev left the world's Top 10 for the first time in five years after a horrific ankle injury during his semifinal match against Rafael Nadal forced him to shut down his season in early June. Zverev made his much-anticipated comeback at the United Cup in January this season.
After a subdued start to 2023 in which he won three of his first nine matches, Zverev took some encouraging steps at the start of March where he made a semifinal run in Dubai and stretched Daniil Medvedev to three sets in Indian Wells.
Zverev, however, could not prevent his ranking from dropping as low as 27th during the clay swing, a period which coincided with Jan-Lennard Struff hitting a purple patch in Madrid and overtaking him as Germany's No. 1 player.
But after successfully defending his French Open points (semifinalist), Zverev captured his first ATP title in two years in his home city of Hamburg just a month later. And the German took that winning form to the hard courts of North America where he secured his first top-10 win of the season when he upset Medvedev in Cincinnati.
A semifinal defeat to eventual champion Novak Djokovic lifted his spirits sending Zverev ever closer to re-entering the Top 10 again. Zverev has been a menace at the US Open, reaching his third quarterfinal in the last four years. He tallied four-set wins over Daniel Altmaier and Grigor Dimitrov before upsetting sixth seed Jannik Sinner in a thrilling five-setter.
That was Zverev's second Top-10 win of the season which guarantees his return to the world's Top 10. Frances Tiafoe's shock defeat to Ben Shelton means it is the American who will drop out. Zverev also boosted his chances of qualifying for the ATP Finals, occupying the eighth and final spot in the ATP Race.
0 Comments