Alexander Zverev may not be the most likely challenger of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz next year.
Zverev has won two Grand Slam titles this year at Roland Garros and the US Open, while Sinner won Wimbledon and Alcaraz completed the Career Slam at the Australian Open.
These results mean that Zverev has a good chance to become world number one before the end of the 2026 season, particularly as Sinner is still out of action with a right knee injury.
Despite this, former top 10 player Fabio Fognini has suggested that Zverev is not the person who will challenge Sinner and Alcaraz.
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Fabio Fognini backs Lorenzo Musetti as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz’s closest challenger
Fognini has experienced playing against both Sinner and Alcaraz, and even pushed the latter to five sets in the final match of his career at Wimbledon last year.
It has been an injury-plagued season for both Sinner and Alcaraz, but Fognini still believes they are the two players to beat. While Fognini is backing Sinner and Alcaraz to remain at the top, he believes that his compatriot Lorenzo Musetti is the player who can do so, before pointing out the issue he thinks he is currently having.
“There are two phenomena, Sinner and Alcaraz, then the others, who are far behind,” said Fognini, as reported by La Gazetta dello Sport. “I admire Jannik’s dedication, Carlitos’s talent. The player who can come closest to them is Musetti, who has a lot of room for improvement. His problem? He’s so talented, and sometimes that talent works against him.”
Musetti enjoyed the best season of his career last year, which enabled him to reach a career-high of world number five in January, but he is now the world number 25. Many of the Italian’s issues have been related to injury, which have also recently caused Musetti to withdraw from the Japan Open.
Fognini then continued by naming the players on the ATP Tour right now who he thinks have the best shots, but he did not name Musetti.
“Zverev has the best serve,” added Fognini. “Forehand? Alcaraz and Sinner, but even [Matteo] Berrettini is a prodigy when he’s in good shape. The best volleys are those of Alcaraz and [Grigor] Dimitrov.”
Lorenzo Musetti’s record vs Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz
While Fognini believes that Musetti can be Sinner and Alcaraz’s closest challenger, his head-to-head record against them does not suggest that.
Musetti has played against Sinner and Alcaraz a combined 11 times, and has only ever won one match against the latter. This was the first ever match Musetti ever played against Alcaraz, which took place in the final of the Hamburg Open in 2022.
There have been no tournaments where Musetti has played against Sinner or Alcaraz this year, with both of their last meetings taking place in the latter stages of the 2025 season.
| Lorenzo Musetti’s record vs | Jannik Sinner | Carlos Alcaraz |
| Head-to-head | 3-0 Sinner | 7-1 Alcaraz |
| Most recent meeting | Sinner beat Musetti, 6-1 6-4 6-2 (US Open 2025) | Alcaraz beat Musetti, 6-4 6-1 (ATP Finals 2025) |
Musetti recently injured his hand during practice before the Japan Open and is now hoping to be fit in time for the Shanghai Masters.
The 24-year-old will be desperate to return to competition soon, as Musetti could drop outside the top 30 if he does not return to form and fitness before the end of the year.
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