Alexander Zverev confident he will reach world number one spot

After firming up his No. 2 spot behind Jannik Sinner in the rankings with his runners-up finish at the Australian Open, Zverev was handed a golden No. 1 chance following the Italian's three-month doping suspension.

Sinner was banned from February 9 until May 4 and at the start of that period, he had a 3,695-point lead over Zverev with Carlos Alcaraz another 625 points adrift in third place.

With four ATP Masters 1000 events and several ATP 500 tournaments taking place during that period, the two challengers had a shot at moving ahead of the three-time Grand Slam winner.

But they both faltered tournament after tournament and Sinner will make his return at the Italian Open this week with a handy 1,645-point lead over second-placed Zverev with Alcaraz still in third place.

Zverev has played eight tournaments since the start of Sinner's suspension and won only title, the ATP 500 BMW Open.

Despite the recent slump at the big events, the No. 1 dream is still alive and he feels it is only a matter of time before he finds form at the big tournaments.

"World No. 1? It would be nice. I don't know. I have not been there. I believe I will. So we'll see how it goes," the 28-year-old said.

"I do think the media also loves to put players down, right? I had a bad two months before Munich, right? I didn't play great tennis before Munich. All of a sudden I'm like the worst world No. 2 in the world ever. I don't deserve to be there.

"Like I'm there because I won tournaments. I'm there because I have results."

Zverev earned only 920 points in the past three months as he failed to make it past the round of 16 in all four Masters events.

He added: "The ranking system doesn't lie. You get points for winning matches, you get points for winning titles. Yes, I know I didn't play up to my standard. I know I didn't play up to what I wanted to do. But neither did Carlos. Then he won Monte Carlo.

"There are periods in a player's career¦ Do you think Novak is happy with his results? Do you think Carlos is happy with his results? I'm not happy with my results.

"At the end of the day in big matches, big moments, I still believe the top players will rise. And I still believe that I am going to find my tennis for the biggest tournaments."

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