First Match As World No. 1, First Loss: Zverev And Djokovic Both Crash Out In Paris

The Paris Masters lost its two biggest names in a single Wednesday afternoon. Alexander Zverev, playing his first match since climbing to world No. 1 on Monday, was beaten 7-6 (5), 6-2 by Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti, the world No. 24. Novak Djokovic, a seven-time champion in Paris and the No. 10 seed, was beaten 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 by the Australian qualifier Rinky Hijikata, ranked 83rd — a loss that ends Djokovic’s hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals and, by his own account, his season.

Zverev had the match in his hand and let it go. He led the first-set tiebreak 5-2, then lost five consecutive points; Musetti took the set and ran away with the second, hitting 29 winners to Zverev’s 25 and making only 12 unforced errors to the German’s 21. Musetti now leads their head-to-head series 4-2. Zverev, who won his first two major titles this year at the French Open and the US Open and has already qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin, was blunt afterward: “Yeah, I was bad. It’s quite simple. This was not a very good match for me, I think maybe one of the worst in the last couple of months.” He defended the fast court — “I actually think that this is the court that it should be” — and pushed back at the questions that have followed his rise: “I feel like I’m the only world number one in tennis history that has to explain why it’s okay for me to be world number one, which I find quite difficult, because I think I deserve to be where I am, even though I lost today.” One British roundup noted the historical footnote: Zverev is reported to be the first man ever to lose in straight sets in his debut match as world No. 1. Musetti, for his part, called it “the best challenge and the toughest challenge that this sport can give me. So I’m really happy that I took my chances today.”

Djokovic’s defeat followed a grimmer script. The 38-year-old record-holder in Paris led comfortably after the first set, then lost three straight games from 3-3 in the second and was broken twice late in the third as Hijikata, 25, played the match of his life. Djokovic needed a semifinal run in Paris to reach the ATP Finals; instead, for only the second time in 20 seasons, he will not be in the year-end field, and he told reporters his plan for the coming weeks was “just rest.” The rest of Wednesday’s seeded carnage cleared the draw further: Daniil Medvedev fell 6-4, 6-4 to Ignacio Buse; the No. 7 seed Frances Tiafoe wasted four match points in losing to Quentin Halys; and the No. 8 seed Alex de Minaur went out to Tomás Martín Etcheverry. No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz beat Alex Michelsen 7-6 (4), 6-3 and is now the highest seed left standing, with Musetti, Hijikata, Halys, Buse and the home favourite Arthur Fils among those into the later rounds — Fils’ place at the ATP Finals was clinched by Tiafoe’s defeat, making him the first Frenchman to reach the Finals since Gaël Monfils in 2016. The ATP Finals run November 15-22 in Turin, and after Wednesday, neither the world No. 1 nor the greatest player of the era will be warming up for them the way either man planned.

Sources: Associated Press, Reuters and AFP reporting from the Rolex Paris Masters, November 4-5, 2026; Sky Sports roundup for the historical note.