Tennis: Alexander Zverev becomes number one in the world rankings

Alexander Zverev will end the tennis season as world number one: The winner of the French Open and US Open is benefiting from a defeat by the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz and can now officially look forward to reaching the next milestone in his career.

Alcaraz lost at the Masters in Shanghai to the strong Belgian Zizou Bergs 5:7, 6:7 (4:7). This means that the Spanish top star Zverev can no longer intercept, according to calculations by the ATP players' organization. The American Ben Shelton, who like Alcaraz still had theoretical chances, had previously been eliminated.

In practice, Zverev could already count on his jump to the top after the early end of the season for Jannik Sinner, the current world number one from Italy. He becomes the 30th player to achieve this since the ranking was introduced in 1973. In addition, Zverev is only the second German man after Boris Becker to ascend the tennis throne.

The earliest time for Zverev, 29, to overtake Sinner is the ATP tournament in Vienna. He needs at least one final in Shanghai, where he will meet Alexander Bublik in the round of 16 on Tuesday (not before 12 p.m./Sky), in order to make history with a triumph in the Austrian capital and be at the top on November 2nd.