Alexander Zverev suffered a disappointing start to his reign as world number one after losing 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 to Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the Paris Masters on Wednesday.
The German, a two-time Grand Slam finalist, was eliminated in the round of 32 after struggling with unforced errors against the 24-year-old Italian.
Musetti, a former world number five, became the fifth player to defeat an opponent in his opening match after that player had attained the world number one ranking.
Despite the defeat, Zverev dismissed suggestions that the pressure of being the top-ranked player had affected his performance.
“Stress, I don’t know if stress. I was a bit annoyed, to be honest,” he told CliqMetro.
He said the achievement of becoming world number one was something every tennis player dreams of, expressing frustration over having to justify his position despite believing he deserved the ranking.
The opening set was closely contested, with both players saving break points before taking the contest into a tie-break.
Zverev initially established a 5-2 advantage but Musetti responded with five consecutive points to take the set 7-5 in the tie-break.
The Italian carried that momentum into the second set, creating early opportunities before breaking Zverev’s serve in the third game.
Musetti continued to exploit his opponent’s weaknesses with an effective sliced backhand as Zverev struggled to control his shots.
A second break gave the Italian the opportunity to serve for the match, which he completed without dropping a point to secure his place in the last 16.
Speaking after the victory, Musetti said he remained focused on enjoying the match even when he was trailing in the opening-set tie-break.
“Personally, I felt that today, I was enjoying (it), even when I was losing in the tie-break, I kept that in mind to enjoy, you know, the beauty of this sport,” he said.
“It paid off, I’m really, really happy.”
Zverev acknowledged that Musetti had been the better player on the day, describing his own performance as one of his poorest in recent months.
“To simplify it, he played really good and I played really bad,” the 29-year-old said.
“I think this was not a very good match from me, I think it might be one of the worst in the last couple of months.”