Zverev Guaranteed to Become World No. 1 by End of Year

German tennis star Alexander Zverev is guaranteed to finish the year as world number one. This became certain after Spain's Carlos Alcaraz lost in the third round of the Shanghai Masters. The world number one ranking at the end of this season became assured after Italy's Jannik Sinner, who is currently ranked number one, was confirmed unable to play due to injury. Although there had been belief that Zverev, currently ranked second, would rise to number one, Alcaraz of Spain had a narrow opportunity to stop that from happening. Zverev said this season has been a very successful one for him and that becoming guaranteed the world number one ranking at the end of the year is a dream come true. Zverev, who has faced failure in his first three Grand Slam finals, won his first Grand Slam title at this year's French Open. After that, he reached the Wimbledon final but lost to Sinner in that final. He will finish this season with two Grand Slam titles after winning the US Open, the last Grand Slam tournament of the following year. Alcaraz won the Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament. In making this a successful year for Zverev, the injuries suffered during the season by Sinner and Alcaraz played a major role. In this way, while Alcaraz suffered a major injury early in the year and had to stay away from playing for many days, after Sinner suffered an injury at Wimbledon, he was unable to play for the remainder of the season. The earliest opportunity for Zverev to leapfrog Sinner and rise to the world number one ranking will come after November 2. He will become the oldest player ever to rise to the world number one ranking for the first time.