Both have won two Grand Slams this season. While one is the World No. 1, the other is all but assured of the ranking in a few weeks’ time. But rather than reveling in their 2026 laurels, both Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev have an eye on the 2027 season, as both players have announced the Brisbane International to be their starting event for the next season on their respective Tours.
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“To have both the men’s and women’s world No.1s competing at the Brisbane International for the first time is a historic moment for the tournament and incredibly exciting for our fans,” said Cameron Pearson, the tournament director of Brisbane in an official statement.
With the Australian Open starting in late January, top-ranked players, especially on the ATP side, avoid any warm-up events and focus more on training blocks for the Melbourne Major. Zverev himself has not played any individual events ahead of the Australian Open in the last few years, but the German has been a regular at team competitions such as the United Cup since 2023 and the ATP Cup, which took place in Australia between 2020 and 2022.
The 2020 ATP Cup is the last time when Zverev played at the Pat Rafter Arena in Brisbane, but the German won’t have a great memory from that campaign, as he lost all his singles matches against the likes of Denis Shapovalov, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alex de Minaur. The current World No. 2 played at the Brisbane International only once in his career, in 2015, when he lost in the first round of qualifying to Pierre-Hugues Hubert.
On the other hand, Rybakina has fond memories of Brisbane. The Kazakh won the event back in 2024, delivering a brutal 6-0, 6-3 win against Aryna Sabalenka in the final. Given that Sabalenka has won the competition in the last two years, Rybakina’s decision to start her 2027 campaign at the event offers fans an enticing prospect of seeing the top two players in the world early in the season, before both head off to Melbourne, where they have already contested two finals.
“I’m really looking forward to starting my season in Brisbane,” said Rybakina, as reported by First Serve. “Winning the title in 2024 was special, and it’s a tournament I love playing.”
Being one of the first events on the calendar every year, Brisbane is not new to hosting some of the biggest stars in the sport. Back in 2025, Novak Djokovic started his season at the event, even partnering Nick Kyrgios in the doubles. In 2024, Rafael Nadal returned to the court in Brisbane after almost a year, in what turned out to be the Spaniard’s last year on the professional Tour.
While the opening events of the 2027 season have been confirmed for both Zverev and Rybakina, they will look to finish the year strongly, as this has been the best of their careers so far.
Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev Still Have Events to Play in 2026
While she is the World No. 1, Rybakina still has a very slim possibility of losing the ranking to Sabalenka by year’s end. The current points tally has Rybakina on 9696 points, while the Belarusian is on 7550 points. Given her loss to Ann Li at the Wuhan Open, Sabalenka’s chances of replacing Rybakina by year’s end are almost impossible, provided the World No. 2 enters into a WTA 500 event ahead of Indian Wells to narrow the gap, a situation which seems unlikely.
For Rybakina, the Kazakh is out of action for some time, having skipped the Wuhan Open due to her injury, and she will hope to recover quickly, as she is motivated to finish the season strongly at the WTA Finals. As for Zverev, even though the German is No. 2 in the rankings, his No. 1 ranking is assured given Jannik Sinner’s decision to end his 2026 season early and Carlos Alcaraz’s early loss in Shanghai.
Zverev is currently in action at the Shanghai Masters, where he is due to play the semifinal against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina tomorrow. The German will be keen to clinch the third title of the season, going one step better than his runner-up finish in Shanghai back in 2019. The two-time Major champion will still have the indoor events across Vienna, Bercy, and Turin to contend with, where he will be motivated to end the season strong.