Alexander Zverev started 2026 as the best player never to have won a Grand Slam. He ends the major season with two.
## The US Open Final
Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(7-2), 5-7, 6-2 on September 13 to win his second major title. He is the first German man to win the US Open since Boris Becker in 1989.
He also became the fourth man in the Open era to win his first two majors in the same season, following Jimmy Connors in 1974, Guillermo Vilas in 1977 and Jannik Sinner in 2024.
## The Double
His first major came at Roland Garros in June, a title that opened up with Carlos Alcaraz absent through injury and Sinner losing early.
Two majors in one year puts Zverev ahead of Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem on the all-time list, and level with Lleyton Hewitt and Pat Rafter.
## The Ranking Picture
Zverev sits at world No. 2, some 1,810 points behind Sinner. The interesting part is what each man has to defend.
– Sinner: 3,550 points to defend before year’s end
– Zverev: 1,080 points to defend
Sinner’s haul comes from winning Beijing, Vienna, Paris and the ATP Finals last season. If he drops points anywhere and Zverev converts some of his 2025 semifinal runs into titles, the No. 1 ranking changes hands.
Should he manage it, Zverev would become the 30th player in Open era history to reach world No. 1.
## Next Up
Zverev plays the Laver Cup for Team Europe before joining the Beijing field from September 30.
The man he is chasing is profiled in Jannik Sinner’s 2026 results and ranking. His beaten finalist is covered in Ben Shelton’s breakthrough run, and the full standings in our post-US Open rankings roundup.
## The Bottom Line
Year-end No. 1 now looks more likely than not, which is a sentence nobody was writing in January.