Alexander Zverev is not getting carried away despite overtaking Carlos Alcaraz at world No. 2. He believes his younger rival is still the second-best player in the world.
Alcaraz's loss to Ugo Humbert in the round of 16 at the Paris Masters gave Zverev an opportunity to move ahead of him in the rankings. The German needed to reach the final to ensure he would overtake the 21-year-old in the new rankings.
Zverev achieved that with a semifinal triumph against the 2022 champion in Paris Holger Rune. It was one of the two-time Grand Slam runner-up's best performances of the season.
But Zverev increased his level even further against Humbert. The 27-year-old lost just four games during a 6-2, 6-2 demolition of the home favorite, who had absolutely no chance against his opponent in that mood.
The additional ranking points for winning the Paris Masters moved him further ahead of Alcaraz before the ATP Finals. He is now in pole position to end 2024 as the world No. 2 behind Jannik Sinner.
Zverev's impressive season has included titles in Paris and at the Italian Open in Rome. He was also the runner-up to Alcaraz at the French Open and a semifinalist at the Australian Open, losing from two sets up against Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne.
However, Zverev told the ATP why he thinks Sinner, who became the fastest player to secure the year-end No. 1 ranking since Novak Djokovic in 2015, had the best year, and Alcaraz's season was the second-best, regardless of what happens at the ATP Finals.
"It's nice to be back at the highest position that I have been so far. Of course, I want to get higher. But for me, Jannik has [had] the best year this season, and Carlos had the second-best year. He won two Grand Slams."
"I know that I'm ahead of him in the rankings, but he won Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Those are two massive titles. So, they are still the two best players in the world, in my opinion, at the moment."
Zverev then identified some technical areas where he thinks Sinner and Alcaraz are superior and highlighted the importance of continuing to improve, saying Djokovic is likely to believe he is a better player now than ten years ago.
"I think when they get an easy ball, when they're in an attacking position, 90 per cent of the time the point is over, whether it's a winner or an unforced error. That's how hard they hit the ball, that's how aggressive they are. I think in that aspect I can improve. That's what I'm trying to do."
"Jannik has improved a lot this year. There are some things Carlos has improved. I think Novak, over the past 15, [or] 20 years, has improved every single year. If you ask him whether he's a better tennis player last year, let's say 2023 or 2022 even, or 10 years ago when he was younger, I think he would say that he's a better tennis player now."
Wanting to improve is why Zverev hit the practice courts after beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinal in Paris, and he admits the 2025 Australian Open is already on his mind.
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