Alexander Zverev closed out the US Open in unusual fashion, finishing the final without immediately realising he had secured his first title in New York. Only after members of his team told him did he understand that the match was over and the trophy was his.

The German denied America a first male champion at Flushing Meadows since 2003 with a composed 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 win that quieted a partisan Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. It was a significant breakthrough after years of expectation, especially given how much the 2020 US Open final had hurt him.

Even so, his reaction at the end was not the one anyone expected. After winning, he did not immediately register the result and sent the balls back across the net to Shelton as though another service game was still to come. It took his coach and brother in his box to point out what had happened. Once Zverev looked at the scoreboard, he realised he was Grand Slam champion again.

The reaction was so unexpected that Jonathan Overend called it “a meme for all-time”. Martina Navratilova was equally taken aback, saying, “I have seen a lot… I’ve seen people lose score, but I’ve never seen this in a Grand Slam singles final,” before adding, “It was crazy.”

Navratilova still praised the way Zverev finished, noting that he recovered after a nervous spell, lost only one set and remained in control when it mattered most. She also said Ben could not find openings against him, and that whatever nerves Zverev had, they amounted to little over four sets.

In his speech to the crowd, Zverev pointed to the wider significance of the moment. “We went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title, and now we’ve won two in three months,” said Zverev. “2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before.”

The victory brought him $5.5 million in prize money for his second Grand Slam title.

Alexander Zverev has continued to reduce the distance to Jannik Sinner in the ATP Rankings, while Carlos Alcaraz has slipped further back after failing to defend his US Open title and Novak Djokovic has suffered a major setback.

Sinner set the pace through the early part of 2026, leaving Zverev more than 9,000 points behind at one stage. But the German has steadily improved his position thanks to his French Open triumph and runner-up finish at Wimbledon, and his run to the US Open final has tightened the race again.

Before the final at Flushing Meadows, the gap to Sinner, who missed the event because of injury, had been cut to 2,510. If Zverev goes on to win the title, he could leave New York only 1,810 points behind the Italian.

Alcaraz began the tournament 630 points behind Zverev, having already missed four months with injury. His quarter-final defeat in New York deepened the problem, after he dropped 2,000 points from the start of the event and collected only 400 for reaching the last eight. That leaves him more than 3,000 points behind Zverev, while Ben Shelton has closed to within 880 points.

Shelton’s semi-final run has pushed him five places to No 4 in the Live Rankings, and a title would leave him just 180 points behind Alcaraz. Frances Tiafoe is another mover, rising four places to a career-best No 8.

Djokovic’s early exit has been costly. The 24-time Grand Slam winner is out of the top 10 for the first time since July 2018 after his shock first-round loss to Mariano Navone. Having defended 800 points from last year’s semi-final, he dropped 790 and slid to No 12.

Karen Khachanov, Alexander Blockx, Alex Michelsen, Botic van de Zandschulp, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Arthur Gea, Michael Zheng, Toby Samuel, Yibing Wu and Dane Sweeny were among the other players to make notable gains, while Raphael Collignon, Nuno Borges, Thiago Agustin Tirante, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniel Altmaier, Jaume Munar, Tomas Machac, Alex Molcan, Holger Rune and Jack Draper all moved down.

The search for a man to successfully defend the US Open title for the first time since 2008 goes on after Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the 2026 tournament.

Alcaraz arrived in New York as the defending champion after beating Jannik Sinner in four sets in last year’s final to claim his second trophy at Flushing Meadows. He had hoped to become the first man since 2008 to retain the crown, and his early progress suggested he was capable of doing so. After four smooth victories, plenty of observers backed the Spaniard to go deep, even with the obvious question mark over his preparation following a four-month absence from the ATP Tour because of a wrist injury.

In the end, Alcaraz was pushed to the limit by Ben Shelton in a late-night contest that became one of the defining matches of the event. The American prevailed 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7), with the match ending at 3:33am on Wednesday in New York.

The result means the long run without a repeat men’s champion at Flushing Meadows continues. Roger Federer remains the last man to defend the title successfully in 2008.

Federer won five straight titles in New York from 2004 to 2008 and then fell short in 2009, when he was denied in the final by Juan Martin del Potro, who captured his only Grand Slam title with a 3–6, 7–6 (7–5), 4–6, 7–6 (7–4), 6–2 victory.

Since then, every champion has failed to go back-to-back. Alcaraz’s defeat in 2026 simply adds another chapter to that pattern, with a new winner now certain to emerge in New York.