Alexander Zverev was emphatically beaten by Jannik Sinner in the semifinals of the Paris Masters.
Zverev was the defending Paris Masters champion, and he had made it all the way to the semifinals in his title defence.
This included fighting back from the jaws of defeat, with Zverev saving match points to beat Daniil Medvedev.
After beating Medvedev, the German set up a meeting with Jannik Sinner, who Zverev pushed in the Vienna Open final the week prior.
Alexander Zverev suffers his heaviest defeat since 2014 after being thrashed by Jannik Sinner
The match between Sinner and Zverev in Paris was very different from their one in the final of the Vienna Open.
While Sinner was able to beat Zverev again, it was much more one-sided in Paris where he thrashed the world number three, 6-0 6-1.
Losing has not been unusual for Zverev in 2025, with Sinner handing him his 23rd defeat of the year, but the nature of the loss is not something which has been seen for some time.
Zverev played his first match on the main ATP Tour when he was just 16 years old, and one year later he suffered a very similar defeat as he did to Sinner.
That came at the ATP 250 tournament in Kitzbühel, where Zverev was beaten, 6-1 6-0, by former world number eight Diego Schwartzman, who has since retired from tennis.
Although it has been 11 years since Zverev last lost a match where he only won one game, that actually happened twice in 2014.
The other time it happened was just two matches before, with Zverev being beaten by David Ferrer in the semifinals of the Hamburg Open.
What does Alexander Zverev plan to do next after losing in the Paris Masters semifinal?
While a lot of credit has to go to Sinner for the way that he dominated the match from the first ball, it was clear to see that Zverev was struggling physically.
When speaking to Sky Sports Germany about his injury, Zverev confirmed that his ankle had swelled up during the match and he also revealed what he was planning to do next.
“Yes, I’ll probably fly to Munich to see my doctor who did the surgery on my ankle,” said Zverev. “I’ll look into it with him and see what it is and if we can do anything about it. Maybe we can make an injection, and then I’ll come to Turin at some point.”
Zverev now has only two tournaments left to play in 2025, as he competes at the ATP Finals and the Davis Cup Finals.
The ATP Finals are the first of those, with Zverev having just one week to recover for the year-end tournament that begins on Sunday, November 9.
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