On Monday, following a breakthrough season, Alexander Zverev became the world No. 1 for the first time in his career.
Zverev is the 30th man in ATP history to reach the milestone since rankings began in 1973. At 29, he is the second-oldest man to make his debut atop the rankings. And, having clinched the year-end top spot as well, he is the fourth active male player — joining Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner — to do so, and the first German man.
Taking over the No. 1 position, following a semifinal run at the Vienna Open, was merely a formality. His rise had been determined in October, when Sinner announced he had finished his season because of injury.
“Knowing that I will finish the year on top of the rankings is just a dream come true,” Zverev said previously. “So much work and effort have been put into achieving this goal.”
Although there is no disputing Zverev’s success this past season, for many tennis fans his achievement remains marred by two previous public allegations of domestic violence. Zverev has consistently denied the allegations. Here’s everything to know about Zverev reaching No. 1 and his off-the-court past that clouds what otherwise would be a celebratory moment.
How did he become No. 1?
Zverev reached the world No. 2 ranking in 2022 and has long been considered among the best in the game. But he entered the 2026 season ranked No. 3, with an 0-3 record in major finals and a lopsided losing record against Sinner and Alcaraz. Because Sinner and Alcaraz had combined to win every Slam title in 2024 and 2025, few predicted Zverev would find a way to close the ranking deficit during the new season.
But, despite not winning a title all year before the French Open, Zverev won at Roland Garros. During a chaotic tournament, which saw Alcaraz, the defending champion, withdraw with injury beforehand and Sinner lose in a shocking second-round upset, Zverev stayed the course when many of the other top seeds fell. In the final, Zverev held off Flavio Cobolli in five sets to claim his first major title.
Alcaraz remained out through Wimbledon, and Zverev seized on his absence to reach his first final. He lost to Sinner but climbed back to No. 2 with the result.
After early exits in both of his hard-court lead-in events, Zverev entered the US Open as the top seed for the first time in his Slam career, as Sinner withdrew with injury. After Alcaraz, in his first tournament back, was eliminated in the fourth round, Zverev became the de facto favorite, and he capitalized again. He defeated Ben Shelton in four convincing sets to claim his second Slam trophy.
Sinner still had an 1,810-point lead in the rankings after the US Open. But once Sinner announced he would be unable to return in 2026 — and with four titles to defend during the remainder of the season, including the ATP Finals and the Masters-1000 level event in Paris — and with Alcaraz mathematically eliminated from the race for No. 1 after an early loss in Shanghai, Zverev’s destiny was cemented.
Even if he didn’t win another match in 2026, Zverev would still have more points than Sinner by year-end. A finals appearance in Shanghai would have guaranteed him the top spot on Nov. 2, but he lost in the semifinals. He then needed to reach the quarterfinals in Vienna to do it. Despite a battle in his opener at the event, in which he held off Martin Landaluce in a marathon deciding-set tiebreak, Zverev solidly won his next match Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals — and make his new ranking official.
“It’s been a wait, but sometimes you have to wait for the best things in life,” Zverev said during his on-court interview after the match. “[It’s] very special. To have the feeling [of being] on the top of the world is amazing,”
What were the abuse allegations against him, and how were they handled?
In October 2020, Olya Sharypova, a former romantic partner of Zverev’s, accused him of abuse in a social media post.
In interviews soon after, Sharypova, a former junior tennis player from Russia, detailed multiple instances of violence, including Zverev allegedly punching her in the face. She also said Zverev smothered her with a pillow as she struggled to breathe while in New York for the 2019 US Open. “This time, I really was scared for my life,” she told journalist Ben Rothenberg.
Zverev denied the accusations. Sharypova did not go the police nor press charges, but the ATP hired an outside firm to examine her claims. After a 15-month investigation, the ATP announced in January 2023 that there was “insufficient evidence” to support Sharypova’s allegations and that Zverev would not face any disciplinary action as a result.
In a statement released later that day, Zverev called Sharypova’s allegations “baseless” and reiterated his innocence.
In October 2023, Zverev was accused in a court document of “physically abusing and damaging the health of a woman during an argument in Berlin in May 2020.” Brenda Patea, another former romantic partner and the mother of his daughter, publicly came forward soon after, saying in an interview with a German newspaper that Zverev pushed her into a wall and choked her. (ESPN doesn’t normally name those alleging domestic abuse, but both women went public with their accusations.)
A German criminal court issued a fine of €450,000 (now roughly the equivalent of $501,000) and a penalty order, which can be used in Germany when there is strong evidence to support the accusation and a trial is not determined to be necessary. Zverev contested the order, as he was legally allowed to do, and a public trial was scheduled. In a news conference at the Paris Masters weeks later, he called the penalty order “complete bulls‐‐‐.”
“Anybody that has a semi-standard IQ level knows what this is all about,” Zverev said.
The ATP told ESPN in January 2024 that it was aware of the legal proceedings but would “not be commenting until that process is complete.”
The case went to trial that May while the French Open was ongoing. Zverev did not have to attend in person and instead played in the clay-court major. He refused to answer any questions after the tournament’s media day about the trial.
The prosecutor’s opening statements were viewable by the public, and he detailed Patea’s accusations, including her struggles to breathe and swallow in the days following the alleged violence. At the defense’s request, the trial was then made private to protect Zverev’s privacy as well as that of their shared young child.
Eight days after it began, a settlement was reached between Patea and Zverev, and the trial was discontinued. Zverev was required to pay €200,000 to the German state treasury and to various nonprofit organizations.
“The decision is not a verdict, and it is not a decision about guilt or innocence,” the court later told the BBC. “One decisive factor for the court decision was that the witness has expressed her wish to end the trial. The defendant agreed to the termination of the case.”
In a statement, Zverev’s legal team said he agreed to it “in order to shorten the process especially in the interest of the child they have together.” Zverev played in the semifinals at Roland Garros just hours after the settlement was announced.
The ATP took no additional action against Zverev.
How has it impacted him on and off the court?
Zverev has been booed by fans on occasion. After the 2025 Australian Open final, and while he was trying to deliver his runner-up speech, a spectator shouted, “Australia believes Olya and Brenda” multiple times before being removed by security.
“I believe there are no more accusations,” a terse Zverev said in his news conference later. “There haven’t been for, what, nine months now. Good for her, I think she was the only one in the stadium who believed anything in that moment.”
No brand has made a public statement about dropping Zverev because of the allegations or for his violent outburst during a match at the 2022 Mexican Open, after which he was disqualified from the tournament and given a yearlong probation period by the ATP. But he has lost high-profile deals with Rolex and Beats by Dre.
Zverev has since added deals to his portfolio with Jacob & Co. and Bitpanda, as well as an advocacy partnership with Medtronic Diabetes. Zverev was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as a child and went public with the diagnosis in 2022.
In 2025, Sportico estimated that Alcaraz earned $36 million in endorsements and appearance fees that year, with Sinner making $25 million and Djokovic collecting $20 million. Coco Gauff totaled $23 million to lead the women’s players. Zverev took home just $4 million, less than his major-winning peers but also less than players such as Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz. (The Economist estimated the gap between Alcaraz and Sinner’s endorsements and Zverev’s was even more sizable.)
Zverev trails when it comes to social media followings as well. The German has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, compared with 16.8 million for Djokovic, 8.9 million for Alcaraz and 5.7 million for Sinner. On TikTok, Zverev has 114,000 followers, in contrast to over 1 million for Alcaraz (and Gauff) and 860,000 for Djokovic. Zverev’s number is about 20,000 more followers than Sinner has amassed on the platform, but Sinner has yet to post a video.
The German also doesn’t seem to be at the same level of box-office draw as many of his top-ranked peers. The American television ratings for the 2026 French Open final were down 25% compared to the final between Alcaraz and Sinner in 2025. Tickets for his semifinal match against Karen Khachanov at the US Open — a tournament in which sky-high ticket prices dominated many of the headlines — dropped to as low as $20 on the secondary market on the day of. (Though not exactly a fair comparison because it featured two Americans, the second men’s semifinal between Shelton and Tiafoe didn’t see prices under $300.)
Zverev seems aware of how he is marketed and promoted in the tennis ecosystem. He publicly criticized Tennis Channel earlier this year for what he perceived as a repeated slight as he continued to get featured sparingly in its social media clips. “I know you have players that you love to hate on and players you love, so please just stop wasting my time then,” he wrote in response to one video.
Does the ATP have a domestic abuse policy? Has the ATP made any changes?
The ATP did not have a formal domestic abuse policy when the accusations were made public in 2020 and 2023.
The lack of policy, and the relatively vague code of conduct in the rulebook, stood in stark contrast to other professional leagues. The NBA, for example, can place a player on paid administrative leave during its own domestic violence investigation even without the involvement of the criminal justice system. The league could then decide to suspend, fine or even release the player based on its findings.
In October 2021, the ATP said it had “commissioned and received an independent safeguarding report” and would be developing a “longer-term safeguarding strategy relating to all matters of abuse, including domestic violence.”
The ATP hired Andrew Azzopardi in 2023 as its director of safeguarding. A new safeguarding policy and program was introduced for the 2026 season. The policy provided a more formal framework and guidelines about how allegations would be handled going forward.
How will things change for Zverev now that he’s No. 1?
There will be more eyes and attention on him as the world No. 1 going into the new season, but will that result in more endorsements, brand partnerships and media appearances? That remains unclear.
Zverev could see an uptick in questions about the previous allegations in news conferences and interviews. He has been notoriously curt in answering such questions previously and prematurely ended an interview with L’Equipe in June after winning Roland Garros when the conversation shifted to the topic.
It also is uncertain how long Zverev will be able to hold on to the top spot. He will have a chance to add to his lead at the upcoming Paris Masters (he reached the semifinals last year) and the ATP Finals (he didn’t advance out of group play in 2025), but it is impossible to predict how large the year-end deficit will be between him and the rest of the field at this time.
Sinner, who won both titles in 2025 at the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals, will continue to lose points until the rest of the year. However, he is expected to appear in the rescheduled Six Kings Slam exhibition in December, which seems to indicate he is healthy and will be back on tour for the start of the 2027 season. A two-time Australian Open champion who saw his quest for a three-peat spoiled in 2026, Sinner will certainly be more motivated than ever to reclaim his trophy and, in turn, lessen the gap atop the rankings.
Alcaraz — who saw his ranking points plummet after being unable to defend his 2025 French Open and US Open titles — will have a chance to close the deficit slightly before season’s end. After winning the title at the Vienna Open, he will also be playing at the Paris Masters and ATP Finals — and will try to make up some ground before the new year. Zverev hasn’t recorded a win against Alcaraz or Sinner at a major since the 2024 Australian Open.
