Alexander Zverev joins Pete Sampras on unfortunate list after losing to Lorenzo Musetti in Paris

Alexander Zverev has had an uninspiring start to life as the world number one.

Zverev snatched the top spot from Jannik Sinner after defeating Tallon Griekspoor in the Vienna Open second round last week.

Since then, the German superstar has suffered defeats to Alex de Minaur and Lorenzo Musetti; in many respects, failing to fulfil his ‘obligation’ as the world number one.

With defeat to Musetti in the Paris Masters second round, Zverev’s journey at Masters 1000 events for the 2026 season came to a close.

Consequently, Zverev’s name has now been added to a rather unfortunate group.

Alexander Zverev has failed to win a Masters 1000 title this year

Zverev has enjoyed his best year on the Tour to date, winning two Grand Slam titles [Roland Garros and the US Open] and achieving the world number one ranking.

Conversely, the German has far from impressed on the Masters 1000 stage – failing to win a single title at any of the nine tournaments.

In fact, Zverev reached the final at just one of the nine Masters 1000 events: the Madrid Open. In the Spanish capital, he was comfortably defeated 6-1, 6-2 by Jannik Sinner; his fourth consecutive loss to the Italian at Masters tournaments.

With his latest loss to Lorenzo Musetti in Paris, the German has created unwanted tennis history.

According to statisticians OptaAce, since 1990, Zverev has become the fourth year-end world number one not to have won an ATP Masters 1000 event that same season.

Stefan Edberg [1991], Pete Sampras [1996, 1998] and Lleyton Hewitt [2001] also achieved this adverse statistic during their respective playing careers.

Zverev will look to put his Masters woes behind him when he competes in the ATP Finals later this month.

The German is a two-time champion at the event, winning the title in 2018 and 2021.