Alexander Zverev joins unwanted list after losing first match as world No. 1

Alexander Zverev has become the fifth ATP player in history to lose his first match after reaching the world No. 1 ranking.

He fell to Lorenzo Musetti 7-6(5), 6-2 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday.

Zverev officially became world No. 1 at the start of this week, taking advantage of Jannik Sinner’s absence from the ATP Tour due to a knee injury.

His reign began with a first-round bye in Paris.

Then came the loss to Musetti.

Zverev now joins an exclusive and unwanted group that started with John McEnroe in 1980.

McEnroe became world No. 1 for the first time in March 1980.

His first match in that position was a Davis Cup tie for the United States against Argentina.

McEnroe lost both of his singles matches, including his first as No. 1 against Jose Luis Clerc.

His reign lasted only three weeks.

He would go on to have a record 14 spells at the top of the ATP rankings.

Of the five players who lost their first match as world No. 1, McEnroe was one of three who did so at the Davis Cup.

One of those was not Thomas Muster.

Muster lost his first match as world No. 1 at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

His defeat is perhaps the biggest surprise of the five.

Muster was beaten by a lucky loser ranked world No. 161 — Sandon Stolle.

Lleyton Hewitt was the first men’s world No. 1 this century to lose his first match after reaching the top.

He was also beaten in the Davis Cup, falling to Nicolas Escude.

It was 21 years until this happened again.

That next player was Carlos Alcaraz.

Alcaraz became the youngest world No. 1 in history in 2022.

He had already achieved record-breaking success that year.

But he was dealt a setback after losing his first match as world No. 1 against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Davis Cup.

Zverev is the latest player on this list.

He has made even more unwanted history as the only man on this list who also failed to win a Masters 1000 title in the same season he became year-end No. 1.

According to statisticians OptaAce, since 1990, Zverev has become the fourth year-end world No. 1 not to have won an ATP Masters 1000 event that same season.

Stefan Edberg in 1991, Pete Sampras in 1996 and 1998, and Lleyton Hewitt in 2001 also achieved this adverse statistic.

Zverev’s 2026 Masters 1000 results tell the story.

He reached the final at just one of the nine events: the Madrid Open.

In the Spanish capital, he was comfortably defeated 6-1, 6-2 by Jannik Sinner.

It was his fourth consecutive loss to the Italian at Masters tournaments.

With his latest loss to Lorenzo Musetti in Paris, Zverev’s journey at Masters 1000 events for the 2026 season came to a close.

This is despite Zverev enjoying his best year on the Tour to date.

He won two Grand Slam titles in 2026: Roland Garros and the US Open.

He achieved the world No. 1 ranking.

He is now guaranteed to be year-end No. 1 after Carlos Alcaraz’s shock loss in Shanghai.

But his agitation around his No. 1 status drew more attention than the score in the press conference after the Paris loss.

“I feel like I’m the only World No. 1 in tennis history that has to explain why it’s okay for me to be World No. 1, which I find quite difficult, because I think I deserve to be where I am, even though I lost today,” Zverev said.

“I don’t think anybody had to explain themselves as much as I had to do in the last couple of days, which for me, is annoying, to be honest.”

The explanation left fans perplexed on social media.

One user on Reddit wrote: “He needs to shut the f**k up. He’s ranked at number one, which is what he wanted. If he wants to be liked and respected, he should be a better human being.”

Another user remarked: “Everyone knows he is no. 1 because Sinner and Alcaraz were injured. This year, he is 0-5 against Sinner and 0-1 against Alcaraz. Also 0-1 against Djokovic and the old man barely keeps it together these days.”