All 30 ATP players who have been world number one as Alexander Zverev joins prestigious group

This means that there have been two new world number ones confirmed recently, with Elena Rybakina becoming the 30th WTA number one after winning the US Open.

Zverev has now continued the best season of his career, which has seen him win two Grand Slam titles, by joining the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer as players who have also been world number one.

How long do you think Alexander Zverev keeps the number one ranking?

He is now guaranteed to be year end number one after Carlos Alcaraz’s shock loss in Shanghai…

Alexander Zverev will become the 30th world number one in ATP history

The official ATP rankings began in 1973, when Ilie Nastase was crowned as the first world number one in history, a position he held for 40 consecutive weeks in his one reign at the summit of the ATP Tour.

John Newcombe had a brief spell as world number one after Nastase, before Jimmy Connors began his first of what became nine spells as world number one. Connors spent a total of 268 weeks as world number one, which included his first spell lasting over three years, a record that was not beaten until nearly 30 years later.

In-between Connors’ nine reigns as world number one, the likes of Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl also had their own spells. Lendl was not actually a Grand Slam champion at the time of his first spell as world number one, but had won eight major titles after his final reign ended, when he overtook Connors for the most weeks as world number one at the time.

McEnroe may not have spent as many weeks as world number one as the likes of Lendl and Connors, but no player in history has had more spells at the top of the ATP rankings than the American.

There was a period of Swedish and American dominance in this period, with the likes of Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi all becoming world number one. Boris Becker also reached the summit of the ATP rankings in this period, as the only German player to do so before Zverev.

Sampras had 11 reigns as world number one and was able to overtake Lendl as the player with the most number of weeks at the top of the ATP rankings. In the midst of Sampras’ 11 reigns as world number one was a period of instability at the top of the rankings, with Thomas Muster, Marcelo Rios, Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Patrick Rafter all having short reigns.

Rios is the only ATP player to have been world number one but never won a Grand Slam in history, while Rafter had the shortest reign as world number one in history, spending just one week there.

Marat Safin, Gustavo Kuerten, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick were also world number ones, before the Big Three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic came to dominate this position for over a decade.

This began with Federer in 2004, who went on to smash Connors’ record of consecutive weeks as world number one, having spent over four years at the top of the ATP rankings. Federer’s run was finally ended by Nadal in 2008, but it was not long until Federer would claim this position again.

Federer and Nadal would trade these positions before Novak Djokovic became world number one for the first time in July 2011. This was the first of 10 reigns for Djokovic, who has now spent a record 428 weeks as world number one, which is 118 more than the second-highest number of total weeks, held by Federer.

Djokovic, Federer and Nadal dominated the position of world number one between 2004 and 2020, with Andy Murray the only other ATP player to dethrone them. Murray had a flawless end to the 2016 season, which enabled him to become the first and only British singles player to top the world rankings.

There have been four other new world number ones since then, starting with Daniil Medvedev, who reached the summit of the ATP rankings for the first time in February, 2022. Medvedev and Djokovic would then exchange the world number one ranking until the 2022 US Open, when Carlos Alcaraz would reach the summit of the rankings after winning his first Grand Slam title. As a result, Alcaraz became the youngest world number one in history at 19 years old, overtaking Hewitt.

For the next two years, Alcaraz and Djokovic would go back and forth as world number one, before Sinner did so for the first time after Roland Garros in 2024. Sinner has since spent a total of 95 weeks as world number one across three spells, exchanging with Alcaraz, with Zverev now set to take his position for the first time next week as the 30th world number one in ATP history.

How many ATP players have been year-end world number one?

As well as the honour of being world number one, there is perhaps an even greater prestige of being the year-end world number one. This is a position that Zverev is confirmed to have this year, with Sinner absent due to his injury, as he becomes the 21st ATP player to achieve this.

Some of the other players to have been year-end world number one once like Zverev are Agassi, Murray, Sinner and Wilander, but there are also players who have achieved this multiple times.

No player has been year-end world number one more than Djokovic, who has been the best player on the ATP Tour for a record eight seasons. Sampras is next, having ended the year as world number one six times, followed by Connors, Federer and Nadal who have all done so five times.

With Zverev confirmed to hold the world number one ranking until at least the Australian Open next year, he will overtake Becker as the German ATP player with the most weeks at the top of the rankings.

Zverev can improve his chances of keeping the world number one ranking for as long as possible in the latter weeks of the 2026 season, starting at the Vienna Open where he is now in the semi-finals.

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