Alexander Zverev said he was annoyed by the reaction to becoming world number one, claiming he has been made to explain why he deserves the position. The German spoke after losing to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti at the Paris Masters on Wednesday, his first match since rising to the top of the ATP rankings for the first time.
“I don’t think anybody had to explain themselves as much as I had to do in the last couple of days,” Zverev said. He added that reaching number one was something every player dreams of and said he believed he deserved to be there, despite the defeat.
Zverev was beaten 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 after receiving a first-round bye. He described his performance as one of his worst in recent months, while praising Musetti’s level of play.
The 29-year-old has a 62-8 record this year against opponents ranked 11th or lower, but has won three of 12 matches against top-10 players. He has lost his past 10 meetings with Jannik Sinner and four of his last five against Carlos Alcaraz.
Sinner has not played since Wimbledon after a knee injury and has fallen to number two in the rankings. Alcaraz has also missed large parts of the season with a wrist injury. Zverev’s rise has coincided with those absences, and the renewed attention has also brought previous abuse allegations made by two former partners back into focus. Zverev has denied the allegations and called them baseless.
Sources: BBC Sport.