After reaching the Wimbledon final, Alexander Zverev is in a position to challenge for the world No. 1 ranking. But should that really be his next goal?
Alexander Zverev almost fulfilled his next lifelong dream in a very short time. After his triumph at the French Open, the 29-year-old fell to Jannik Sinner in a high-caliber final match at Wimbledon.
Although Zverev lost in four sets, 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (2-7), 3-6, 4-6, the match was closer than the score suggests. Had small moments—such as the tiebreak in the second set—played out differently, he might finally have beaten the world No. 1.
For now, he’s left with a missed opportunity to claim his second Grand Slam title and to become the first German in 35 years to win the title on the hallowed grass. It was his tenth consecutive loss to Sinner.
And yet, the final offers hope that Zverev could achieve much more. He is significantly closer to Sinner than anyone thought he would be, especially on grass, before the tournament. More Grand Slam titles seem possible—and perhaps even the Hamburg native’s big dream: becoming the world No. 1.
Zverev Can Dream of Becoming World No. 1
Despite the loss in the final, Zverev is making significant ground in the world rankings. While Sinner “only” defended his points, Zverev gained a lot of points after his first-round exit last year.
Sinner also pointed this out after the final when he addressed Zverev and his team directly: “With your victory in Paris, you’ve achieved one of your biggest goals. If Sascha keeps playing at this level, that trophy will be his one day. And he’s got his sights set on the No. 1 spot, too, so you’ve got to watch out.”
Sinner still leads Zverev by just under 5,000 points. At first glance, that’s an incredibly large gap. Nevertheless, the Italian needs to keep an eye on the competition.
That’s because Sinner has an extremely large number of strong tournament results to defend for the rest of the year. Last year, he won tournaments in Beijing, Vienna, Paris-Bercy, and the ATP Finals—as well as reaching the finals in Cincinnati and at the US Open. And Zverev? He has only one final in Vienna to his name, with plenty of points to defend. So he has a lot of ground to make up.
With a heavy tournament schedule and many successful tournaments, Zverev could indeed close the gap on Sinner—at least if Sinner slows down a bit in the second half of the year.
Stich Recommends Zverev Focus on Grand Slam Tournaments
The only question is whether Zverev should even risk it at all, or whether he should instead focus on winning as many Grand Slam tournaments as possible. Zverev is indeed facing a dilemma here, albeit a positive one.
If it were up to Michael Stich, he would recommend that Zverev take a break. “I think the last six weeks, two months, have taken a huge mental toll. I hope he doesn’t make the mistake he’s made too often in the past—playing too much. That he simply allows himself this time to reflect,” Stich said on Prime Video.
Even if that meant losing important points in the race for the No. 1 ranking, in his opinion that would be the only right decision: “He may have to accept now that the Grand Slams are the main goal and structure his tournament schedule around them. He’s a bit older than the others and needs to pace himself a little.”
Before Wimbledon, Andrea Petkovic had struck a similar note in her podcast with Boris Becker: “It makes me happy that he’s playing fewer tournaments. He used to have a tournament schedule like a world No. 60 and played what felt like 30 tournaments. As the No. 3 seed, he’d play every small-town tournament. So I’m really glad he’s now focusing on the important events.”
For the experts, it seems clear that Zverev should focus more on winning additional Grand Slam tournaments. Furthermore, Stich doesn’t believe Zverev can challenge Sinner: “To put it bluntly: He won’t become number one this year anyway. That’s very unlikely. His goal right now shouldn’t be to do everything he can to achieve that and then pay the price again next year.”
