The four other men who lost their first match as world number one after Alexander Zverev’s Paris Masters loss

Alexander Zverev has become part of an unwanted list after losing his first match as world number one at the Paris Masters.

Zverev officially became world number one at the start of this week, taking advantage of Jannik Sinner’s absence from the ATP Tour due to a knee injury.

Despite all of the success he has achieved in 2026, Zverev lost to Lorenzo Musetti at the Paris Masters, 7-6(5), 6-2, in his first match since becoming world number one.

This means that Zverev has become the fifth ATP player in history to have lost their first match since becoming world number one, a list that he will not want to be part of.

Alexander Zverev is one of five ATP players to lose their first match as world number one

Zverev is the latest of five ATP players who have lost their first match as world number one, which all started with seven-time Grand Slam champion John McEnroe in 1980.

McEnroe became world number one for the first time in March 1980, with his first match since earning this position representing the USA in their Davis Cup tie against Argentina. Despite being the world number one, McEnroe lost both of his singles matches, including his first match as world number one against Jose Luis Clerc.

This reign as world number one for McEnroe lasted only three weeks, but he was able to have a record 14 spells at the top of the ATP rankings. Of the five players who lost their first match as world number one, McEnroe was one of three who did so at the Davis Cup.

One of those was not Thomas Muster, who lost his first match as world number one at the Dubai Tennis Championships. This was perhaps the biggest surprise of all these five defeats, as Muster was beaten by lucky loser and world number 161 Sandon Stolle.

Lleyton Hewitt was the first men’s world number one this century to lose his first match after reaching the top of the ATP rankings, as he was also beaten in the Davis Cup against Nicolas Escude.

It was 21 years until this happened again, and this was after Carlos Alcaraz became the youngest world number one in history. Alcaraz had already achieved record breaking success that year, but he was dealt a setback after losing his first match as world number one against Felix Auger-Aliassime in the Davis Cup.

Zverev is the latest player on this list, but he has made even more unwanted history as the only man on this list to lose his first match as world number one in straight sets. Remarkably, Pat Rafter, who had the shortest reign as world number one ever for just one week, never played a match in this position.

It is actually not the first time that a world number one has lost their first match in this position this year, with Elena Rybakina also losing her first match as world number one in Beijing last month.

Rybakina has since returned to form, and Zverev will be hoping to do the same as he concludes his season at the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals.