Alexander Zverev failed to overcome Jannik Sinner yet again and suffered a crushing 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat in the Wimbledon final. The German put in a commendable effort, but it just wasn’t enough to stop the World No. 1 from defending his crown at the SW19. Though Zverev came up short on the day, he still made impressive gains on the rankings by reaching his maiden Wimbledon final.

Zverev overtook Carlos Alcaraz to take up the No. 2 spot in the rankings. Having occupied the third spot for quite some time, he was finally able to gain a place following his remarkable performances at both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. Another reason behind this is Alcaraz’s long absence from the tour.

The Spaniard has been out of action since April. He had last played at the Barcelona Open, where a wrist injury had forced him to withdraw from the Round of 16. This setback would turn out to be the most serious one Alcaraz has sustained in his career and would result in him missing two consecutive Grand Slams.

Though Zverev was a massive number of points behind Alcaraz when the latter had been ruled out due to injury, he has finally caught up to the latter’s tally after three months. Zverev now has 8,480 points under his belt in comparison to Alcaraz’s tally of 8,160. The Spaniard has dropped a massive number of points, especially at Grand Slams.

Notably, Alcaraz had triumphed at the French Open and had reached the Wimbledon final last year. Withdrawals from these two tournaments resulted in him dropping a total of 3,300 points. Not to mention that his long absence has seriously affected the competition, especially at majors. It has opened the doors for many players to make unexpected deep runs and has also resulted in some of them receiving relatively easy draws.

There is still no clarity over when Alcaraz will make his much-awaited return to the court. A serious wrist injury typically takes anywhere from three to six months to heal fully. Alcaraz has already spent three months on the sidelines, and his camp has confirmed that he will be skipping the National Bank Open in Montreal for the second year in a row. He would have missed four months of action by the time he returns to the tour.

Alcaraz is targeting to make his return at the Cincinnati Masters, which will begin on August 13. He had triumphed at the Masters event last year after Jannik Sinner had retired from the final while trailing the first set by 5-0.

On the other hand, Zverev is expected to be in action at the Montreal Masters that will commence on August 2. He has ample time to recover from the fatigue that was caused by the grass swing. Having gotten knocked out by Karen Khachanov in the semifinals last year, the German will be aiming to go all the way this time around and commence the hard swing on a high note.

The No. 2 ranking shows that Zverev is one of the very best in the business. He hasn’t dropped out of the top 10 for almost three years now and is arguably in the form of his life at present. But poor results in Montreal and Cincinnati could see Zverev lose his momentum and fall behind Alcaraz once again. He will also lose further ground to Jannik Sinner in the rankings, who currently sits at the No. 1 spot with 13,450 points.

Having achieved his lifelong dream of winning a Grand Slam title just last month, Zverev’s main goal now is to become World No. 1. He hasn’t been able to reach the milestone so far, and his ranking has peaked at No. 2 on several occasions. But he is still optimistic about becoming the World No. 1 and is even willing to play for the next 10 years to make it happen.

Alexander Zverev opens up on his new goal after Grand Slam triumph

“I want to keep playing for another ten years,” he had said in an interview with the German Publication Bild in June. “I’ve already achieved the Grand Slam goal, and the only thing I’m missing is being number one in the world. Even if it’s just for a week, that would be nice. Although with the competition there is, it will be very difficult.”

Zverev currently has 25 ATP titles, an Olympic gold, and a Grand Slam title under his belt. He is one of the most successful players of his generation and has already cemented himself as one of the best male German players to have graced the sport.

The 2026 season has already been quite a successful one for Zverev, but things can get even better for him as the hard swing commences. This is because he has achieved a lot of success on the surface in the past.

Zverev has won a total of 15 titles on hard courts so far, and it is a surface he is comfortable with. Looking at his current form, he has a good chance of increasing his title tally significantly in the upcoming hard swing.