Alexander Zverev reached the final at the Rolex Paris Masters, a highly prestigious result with two important points. The German champion will try to win his second Masters 1000 in 2024 after the triumph in Rome in spring and – thanks to this result – is already certain to return to the second place of the ATP ranking from Monday.
The player from Hamburg has passed Carlos Alcaraz in the ATP ranking and this will affect the draw of the Nitto ATP Finals, which will start next Sunday in Turin. Sascha will not be able to face world number 1 Jannik Sinner in the group stage, a not inconsiderable advantage considering the absurd level of the Italian in indoor conditions.
Alexander Zverev & Holger Rune, Paris Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
The surface in Turin is very suited to the characteristics of Zverev, who raised the trophy in 2021 by defeating Novak Djokovic in the semifinals and Daniil Medvedev in the final. The runner-up at the 2024 French Open is favored in the final against Ugo Humbert, who is playing a really exceptional tennis in front of his fans.
The French player eliminated Alcaraz in the round of 16, a success that gave him even more confidence for the rest of the week. Ugo also took advantage of Karen Khachanov’s physical problems in the semi-finals and had a disagreement with the Russian ace, who did not like his opponent’s behavior.
Sascha had great consistency in 2024
Despite missing the high-pitched in the Grand Slam tournaments, Zverev has played a very consistent season and returned to his best level after suffering a severe ankle injury at the 2022 French Open. Getting a great result in the last tournaments of this season would be crucial also for 2025, when he will try to finally break the curse in the Major tournaments.
Alexander Zverev, Paris Masters 2024 © Stream screenshot
During the press conference after his win over Holger Rune in Bercy, Sascha discussed his current level: “You always have to improve in tennis. If you stay still, you’ll go backward because other players are also getting better. Jannik has improved a lot this year. Carlos has also improved certain things. I believe Novak, in the last 15, 20 years, has improved every year. If you ask him if he’s a better player this year, let’s say 2023 or 2022 even, or 10 years ago when he was younger, I think he would say he’s a better player now. It’s because everyone tries to improve. If you don’t improve, you’ll stagnate. I want to achieve my biggest goals, and for that, I know I have to improve because what I’ve done so far hasn’t been enough.”
Despite overtaking Alcaraz in the ATP ranking, the German ace believes that Spanish is still superior: “It’s good to be back at the highest position I’ve reached in the ranking so far. Of course, I want to go further, but Jannik has had the best year, with Carlos behind him having won 2 Grand Slams. I know I surpass him in the ranking, but he has won Wimbledon and Roland Garros, huge titles. They are still the best two players in the world, from my point of view.”
Zverev equals Sinner
Defeating Rune yesterday, Zverev took his 65th ATP tour victory this year and equaled Sinner in that particular standings. It should be remembered that the Italian ace had to skip the last Masters 1000 of the season because of a intestinal virus that afflicted him on the eve of the tournament.
Alexander Zverev, Paris Masters 2024© Stream screenshot
The world number 1 suffered only six defeats in all of 2024, while Alexander had some unexpected knockouts that prevented him from embellishing his year. At the same time, Zverev has not fully overcome the pneumonia that had hit him after the Laver Cup. The new world number 2 has said it will take some time before that problem is totally overcome.
“I don’t know,” he explained during the press conference. “I have to go do the scans and do the tests. I’m doing this after this week, going to Berlin to do the tests. I do feel okay. I feel fine. But they also told me, doctors told me, you’ll gradually get together, but to be back at 100% will take a few months, because this is not something that just goes away like an illness within one or two weeks and then that’s it. It will take a few months, but I feel okay. I feel not like I’m getting super tired on the court or I struggle to breathe, but also, to be fair, the court here is so fast that there is rarely any long rallies. So I think that that is maybe helping me this week a little bit, as well.”