2026 has been Alexander Zverev‘s best season on the Tour without a shadow of a doubt. Not only did he manage to achieve his lifelong dream of winning a Grand Slam, but also dethroned Jannik Sinner to claim the No. 1 spot on the rankings. A big reason behind this was his title victories at the French Open and US Open. However, it turns out that Roger Federer‘s advice had a role to play in his success.

“For years, I advised him to be much more aggressive from the baseline and take the initiative more often,” Federer said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “At crucial moments, he often had a problem with becoming too passive. Now he dared to play with more courage in the big matches.”

Zverev considers Federer his idol and the two share a warm relationship off the court. The latter even attended many of the German’s matches at Wimbledon earlier this year. So, it’s not a surprise that Zverev took Federer’s advice seriously, and it ended up benefiting him.

Zverev’s serve has become one of his biggest weapons, and he has made good use of it, especially in important encounters this season. He has also won several crucial points through his barrage of aggressive winners, and this has helped him win a number of matches.

Some of his most remarkable victories of the season includes the marathon five-set triumph over Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final. His comfortable 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 triumph against Taylor Fritz at Wimbledon was also very impressive. A mention also needs to be made of the 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 triumph against Ben Shelton in the US Open final.

If this wasn’t all, then Zverev also played a key role in Team Europe’s Laver Cup win. He was the one who delivered the killer blow to Team World by defeating Learner Tien 7-6, 6-3 on the third and final day of the clash. However, the World No. 1’s form has taken a dip since the tournament.

Zverev was knocked out of the China Open by Novak Djokovic in the quarterfinals. Despite winning the first set, the German allowed his opponent to get back into the match and lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The 29-year-old then racked up solid wins against Alexander Bublik and Alex de Minaur at the Shanghai Masters. But Alejandro Davidovich Fokina unexpectedly defeated him 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.

A similar story repeated itself at the Vienna Open as Zverev fell short of the final again. This time, he got eliminated by de Minaur, who clinched a 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 win in the semifinals. However, the Paris Masters proved to be the most disappointing tournament of the lot, as Zverev suffered an opening-round exit after being defeated 7-6, 6-2 by Lorenzo Musetti.

Moreover, despite having an immensely successful season, Zverev has a horrid record against the top-10. He was even criticized by many fans for the same after the defeat to de Minaur in Vienna.

Alexander Zverev’s record against the top-10 players is quite concerning

Zverev has a woeful win-loss record of 3-9 against top-10 players in 2026. His only triumphs came against Fritz, Shelton, and de Minaur. Though he snatched the No. 1 spot away from Sinner earlier in Vienna, the Italian totally dominated the matchup this season.

He defeated Zverev on five occasions, including the finals of the Madrid Open and Wimbledon. De Minaur also got the better of Zverev twice this season, while both Carlos Alcaraz and Fritz each racked up a win against the German.

This poor record has led many to believe that luck played a huge role in Zverev’s two Grand Slam triumphs. He got a relatively easy draw in both tournaments and only faced two top-10 players overall during the two campaigns. But Zverev feels that he deserves to be the World No. 1 and gave a fitting reply to his doubters after his defeat at the Paris Masters.

“Achieving the world No. 1 is something I think every player dreams of, but I feel like I’m the only one in tennis history who has to explain why it’s okay for me to be number one,” he said during the post-match press conference. “I think I deserve to be where I am, even though I lost today. Today I was pretty bad and he was very good, there are no excuses.”

Zverev’s final test of the year will come at the ATP Finals. Unlike the Grand Slams, he will have to face only the highest-ranked players in this tournament. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to end the season on a high.