Alexander Zverev puts Carlos Alcaraz ahead of himself as second-best player in the world after Jannik Sinner despite regaining World No. 2 ranking

Alexander Zverev hailed Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz as the 'best players in the world' after becoming the new World No. 2. The German is currently enjoying a terrific run at the Paris Masters and has made it to the final.

Zverev has been enjoying a relatively good season but despite his ongoing form, he failed to capture a Major and could only clinch a single title, the Italian Open. However, he has made it to the latter stages of tournaments frequently, with the most recent one coming at the 2024 Paris Masters.

Seeded third, the German ousted Tallon Griekspoor, Arthur Fils, and 10th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas to reach the semifinals. He comfortably took out 13th seed Holger Rune 6-3, 7-6(4) to reach the final.

During the post-match press conference, the 27-year-old was asked his thoughts on becoming the new World No. 2 eclipsing Carlos Alcaraz.

Alexander Zverev said that it was nice to reclaim the World No. 2 spot after his horrific injury at the 2022 French Open. He said:

"It's nice, for sure. It's nice to be back at the highest position that I have been so far. Of course I want to get higher, but for me still Jannik has the best year this season, for sure, and then Carlos had the second-best year. He won two Grand Slams.

"I know that I'm ahead of him in the rankings maybe, but for me he won Wimbledon and Roland Garros. Those are two massive titles. So they are still the two best players in the world, in my opinion, at the moment."

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"Happy to be back where I am, for sure, because there was never a guarantee" - Alexander Zverev on reclaiming his career-high ranking

Alexander Zverev (Source: Getty)

Speaking at the same press conference, Alexander Zverev talked about his horrific injury that happened at a point in his career, when he possessed the caliber to win a Major. This injury rendered the German incapable of being competitive on the tour for a long time. He said:

"I felt like I was going a very good direction at Roland Garros, I was going, you know, hopefully to achieve my dream of winning Roland Garros. I was No. 2 in the world. I was very close to becoming World No. 1, as well.

"It was going in that direction, and then obviously there was a two-year stop to that process. You know, there was two years where I was not competitive for Grand Slams, not competitive for World No. 1 and those kind of things."

Due to this, the 27-year-old was happy to have reached the upper echelons again but wanted to improve and get better results moving forward.

"So I'm happy to be back where I am, for sure, because there was never a guarantee that I would be back at this level. So for sure for me it's a great satisfaction to be back, but again, I want to improve and I want to go even higher."

Alexander Zverev will take on 15th seed and home favorite Ugo Humbert in the final of the Paris Masters. Following this, he will head to Turin for the Nitto ATP Finals.