German tennis star, Alexander Zverev has declared himself the best player in the world at present after defeating American Ben Shelton to win his maiden US Open title.
The 29-year-old defeated Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-2 in Sunday’s final in New York to claim his second Grand Slam title of the season and end the American’s hopes of becoming the country’s first male US Open champion since Andy Roddick in 2003.
Zverev entered the final with considerable major-final experience, having previously reached five Grand Slam finals, while Shelton was appearing in his first.
The German eventually prevailed despite dropping the third set to the home favourite.
His triumph capped a remarkable Grand Slam campaign in 2026.
Zverev won the French Open before reaching the Wimbledon final, where he lost to world No. 1 Jannik Sinner. He now has a 25-2 record in Grand Slam matches this year.
Asked whether he currently considers himself the best player in the world, Zverev acknowledged the absence and fitness issues affecting Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
“You have to take everything into consideration,” he said. “With Jannik Sinner being injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, probably yes. Both of them healthy and both of them at the top of their game, maybe not.
“But if we say right, right now with Jannik being injured and Carlos coming back from injury, maybe. I mean, four, five months ago when both of them were healthy, I wasn’t. I was losing to Jannik all the time. So if everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead. It’s as simple as that.”
Zverev also revealed that he was so focused during the final that he failed to realise he had secured the championship.
He initially thought the score was 5-1 and only understood that the match was over after the umpire announced his victory.
“I thought the score was 5-1! I knew that I had broken him twice, but I thought he only held once.
“I was thinking: ‘Okay, I’m going to have a relaxed service game here and then I’ll get tight on the next one.’ It was lucky for me!
“It’s actually funny, teachers in tennis say play each point and forget about the score. Well I forgot about the score and it helped me!”
