Alexander Zverev had already survived four match points against Spain’s Martin Landaluce in his opening match at the Vienna Open on Tuesday. The 29-year-old German, born in Hamburg, advanced from that test to a meeting with Tallon Griekspoor, the 30-year-old Dutch player.
On 29 October 2026, Zverev broke Griekspoor in the opening game and went on to win 6-4, 7-5 at the ATP 500 Vienna Open, also known as the Erste Bank Open.
The result secured the points that will take Zverev to ATP world number one when the updated rankings are published on Monday, 2 November, replacing Jannik Sinner.
He will be the 30th man to reach the top spot since the ATP rankings were first published in 1973, and the second German after Boris Becker. Becker held the ranking in 1991.
Zverev is the second-oldest first-time world number one after Australian John Newcombe, who reached the summit at age 30 in 1974. He is also the first man other than Sinner and Alcaraz to top the rankings since Novak Djokovic in June 2024.
“It's been a wait but sometimes you have to wait for the best things in life,” Zverev said.
The season began with Zverev ranked third on 5,110 points, behind Alcaraz and Sinner. He has since won 64 of his 80 matches, captured the French Open and US Open, and beat Ben Shelton in the US Open final.
He became the ninth man to reach at least the semifinals at all four major tournaments in the same season. His record also includes a gold medal at the 2021 Olympics.
Sinner ended his 2026 season in early October because of a knee injury. Zverev had already been assured of finishing 2026 as the year-end ATP number one before arriving in Vienna.
Vienna gave him the route to the weekly summit as well.
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