Musetti spoils Zverev's first match as world No. 1 in Paris

Alexander Zverev's reign at the top of men's tennis began with a defeat. Two days after officially becoming world No. 1, the German top seed lost 7-6 (5), 6-2 to Lorenzo Musetti in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday, in a match that lasted just over an hour and 40 minutes on Court Central.

Musetti, who had opened his week by edging Hubert Hurkacz in two tie-breaks, was the steadier player throughout. The Italian held all ten of his service games, hit 29 winners to Zverev's 25 and made only 12 unforced errors against the German's 21. The win gives Musetti a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head.

A rare club

According to Tennis Majors, Musetti is only the fifth man since rankings began in 1973 to beat a newly crowned No. 1 in his first match at the top. The others are José-Luis Clerc, Sandon Stolle, Nicolas Escudé and Félix Auger-Aliassime, who beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Davis Cup in 2022. The defeat was also unusual for Zverev in another way: he had won 16 of his 17 opening matches at tournaments this season before Paris.

Zverev did not look for excuses. "Yeah, I was bad. It's quite simple. This was not a very good match for me," he said, as quoted by AP. He also credited Musetti's returning at key moments: "I think he hit two very good returns... everything can happen very, very fast here."

A No. 1 with questions to answer

Zverev, 29, rose to No. 1 on Monday after the best season of his career. He won his first two Grand Slam titles at the French Open and the US Open, reached the Wimbledon final and, per AP, has already secured the year-end No. 1 ranking. He is the second German man to hold the top spot after Boris Becker, and the oldest man in more than 50 years to get there for the first time.

His rise was helped by the absence of Jannik Sinner, who ended his season in October with right knee inflammation, and by injury and fatigue problems for Carlos Alcaraz. That context has fed the debate about his record against the very best. Tennis365 notes that Zverev was 3-9 against top-10 opponents in 2026 before Paris and went 0-6 against Alcaraz and Sinner this year.

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Zverev addressed the issue directly in Paris: "The No. 1 status is something that I think every player dreams of. But then I feel like I'm the only world No. 1 in tennis history that has to explain why it's okay for me to be world No. 1."

What comes next

The early exit has no effect on Zverev's place in Turin, where he has long since qualified for the ATP Finals from 15 to 22 November. It does give him an unexpected break before the season finale, where he will go in as the top seed.

For Musetti, the path opens up. The Italian meets Frenchman Luca Van Assche in the round of 16 after Van Assche beat 15th seed Learner Tien 7-6 (4), 6-4 earlier on Wednesday.