#1. Alexander Zverev
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This young prodigy from Germany has been one of the rising stars in tennis this year by scripting a few major upsets which made him the youngest player to enter the Top 20 of the ATP rankings since Novak Djokovic ten years back.Zverev began his year with a first round exit at the Australian Open at the hands of eventual runner-up Andy Murray which was followed by his first ATP semi-final at the Open Sud de France where he beat 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic on the way.
A quarter-final finish at the Rotterdam Open was followed by a second round exit at the Open 13. The German went on to reach the fourth round of the Indian Wells Masters, beating two Top 30 players en route. Zverev ended his hard-court season with a second round exit at the Miami Masters.Zverev began his clay-court season with a second round exit at the Monte-Carlo Masters which was followed by a third round exit at the Barcelona Open. He then reached his second ATP semi-final of the year at the BMW Open where he lost to eventual winner Dominic Thiem. After a second round exit at the Italian Open, he reached his first ever ATP final at the Open de Nice where he was beaten by Dominic Thiem for the second time in three tournaments. His clay-court season also ended with a loss to Thiem at the third round of the French Open.The young german star began his grass-court season by reaching the final of the Gerry Weber Open where he recorded perhaps the biggest win of his career so far against Roger Federer at the semi-finals. He ended his grass-court season with a third round exit at Wimbledon.After a shocking first round exit at the German Open, Zverev reached the semi-finals of the Citi Open which was followed by consecutive first round defeats at the Rogers Cup and the Cincinnati Masters. He exited the US Open in the round after a surprise defeat to 64th ranked Brit Daniel Evans in four sets. Following the US Open, Zverev won his first ATP title at the St. Petersburg Open where he beat Tomas Berdych in the semi-finals before humbling newly-crowned US Open champion Stan Wawrinka in the final.Zverev finally achieved his first win over Dominic Thiem in four meetings this year at the first round of the China Open. He eventually reached the quarter-finals where he was defeated by David Ferrer. A third round exit at the Shanghai Masters was followed by a semi-final performance at the Stockholm Open which helped him enter the Top 20 of the ATP rankings.The 19-year old Zverev showed the world a glimpse of his talent this year and if he can improve his game, he could well be an overwhelming favorite to win a Grand Slam in 2017 and definitely a big star in the forthcoming years.
