Alexander Zverev could record his worst season in six years after another disappointing loss, this time at the hands of Arthur Rinderknech.
The No. 3 ranked player in the world lost 6-4, 3-6, 2-6 to the No. 54 ranked player at the Shanghai Masters, giving the Frenchman a 2-0 head-to-head versus the German.
It comes as part of what has been an undeniably disappointing season for Zverev and one that could see him record his worst win/loss ratio since 2020.
Of the 69 matches Zverev has played this year, he has lost 21 of them, meaning his loss percentage is at 30.43%.
Since 2020, that number has almost always been below 30% aside from the 2023 season when Zverev lost 32.93% of the matches he played in.
Left on his 2025 season, Zverev has potentially the Vienna Open, Paris Masters and ATP Finals and should he fail to win a significant portion of matches, he could end the year having lost more than 32.93% of his matches.
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The last time he did that came back in 2019 when he lost 36.23% of the matches played.
Zverev has already equalled the number of losses he had last year but currently, he won 69 matches compared to the 48 he has so far won in 2025.
From a loss percentage ratio, Zverev’s best year came in 2021 when he lost just 20.27% of the matches he played.
The German has also won just one title this year (the BMW Open in Munich) and has won at least two every year since 2020 other than in 2022.
Rinderknech, meanwhile, is on course for his most successful year to date and after beating Zverev for the second time, he said it was “huge.”
“This is huge,” the 30-year-old said. “I had my first Top 5 win at a Grand Slam at Wimbledon against Sascha [Zverev] and it happens again.
“I guess I am a bit lucky against him and able to play my best tennis. I need to play my best tennis to beat a guy like Sascha, at No. 3 for many years, such a steady player and a very good player. I am very happy.”
Zverev’s latest loss also comes just days after he criticized tournaments for setting up courts to favour Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, suggesting they were slower.
“I hate when it’s the same and I know that the tournament directors are going towards that direction because obviously they want Jannik and Carlos to do well every tournament, and that’s what they prefer,” Zverev said.
“I’ve been on tour for 12 years now and we always had different surfaces. We always had tournaments which you liked and we always had tournaments which you didn’t like so much.”
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