#NextGen Zverev Chasing Djokovic, Murray In Bid For History

Alexander Zverev is setting his sights on ATP World Tour history after his recent breakthrough title.

The 19-year-old #NextGen star is trying to become the first teenager to finish the year in the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings since 2006. Zverev, currently ranked No. 24, would join an exclusive list of players if he were to accomplish the feat. Since 2000, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, World No. 2 Andy Murray, former Top 10 player Richard Gasquet and former World No. 1’s Rafael Nadal, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick are the only players who have finished a year in the Top 20 as teenagers.

Zverev, who turned 19 in April, matched his career-best ranking of No. 24 with his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday. The Hamburg native beat top seed Stan Wawrinka at the St. Petersburg Open. Zverev had played in two previous finals, losing to Dominic Thiem at Nice and Florian Mayer at Halle.

The 6’6” right-hander, who is No. 19 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, is the fifth seed this week at the Shenzhen Open. He’ll look to improve on his 38-21 record when he faces fellow #NextGen star Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan on Wednesday. Zverev prevailed in their previous FedEx ATP Head2Head match-up, a 7-6(1), 6-3 win at Washington last season.