The tennis elite are currently playing at the Masters in Rome. Alexander Zverev is once again one of the favorites, but behind the German number one the air becomes very thin for the DTB very quickly. A look at the performance of the other German top 100 players is quite alarming.
Even without winning a title, Alexander Zverev is looking forward to the best Masters year of his career so far: three semi-final appearances and a final appearance in the first four 1000s of the year top even Zverev’s top year in 2018, when the Hamburg native reached the final in Miami, the semi-finals in Monte Carlo and won in Madrid. The first Masters of the year in Indian Wells ended for Zverev in round two.
A lot can also be expected in Rome from the 29-year-old, who has his second-best Masters record in the Italian capital with 27:7 victories (30:7 in Madrid). However, this does not apply to the remaining German representatives.
The current German number two, Yannick Hanfmann (number 59 in the world rankings), started in the 1000 events in Miami and Madrid in 2026. Hanfmann was only able to win a match in the Spanish capital. The 34-year-old from Karlsruhe failed to qualify in Rome in 2025, but also recorded his best performance at a Masters in 2023 by reaching the quarter-finals.
German tennis talents are currently treading water
Daniel Altmaier (number 64 in the world rankings) has been in the main draw at every Masters in 2026, but is still waiting for a win. In Rome he also failed at his opening hurdle in the last two years, and nothing more than reaching the quarter-finals in Madrid 2023 was possible.
Experienced Jan-Lennard Struff (number 83 in the world rankings) has by far the second-best Masters resume of all active DTB players – among other things, the 36-year-old reached the quarter-finals in Cincinnati 2020 and Miami 2023 as well as the final in Madrid 2023 – but reaching the second round in Madrid stands out this year. In Monte Carlo the qualification was already over.
The fact that Altmaier, at 27, is the youngest of the German quartet further dampens hopes of an early improvement. Especially since the players who were expected to make a breakthrough in 2026 are also currently stagnating. Justin Engel recorded his fourth first-round defeat in a row on Tuesday at the Challenger in Francaville. Diego Dedura was able to achieve several positive results recently, but has not celebrated two victories in a row in a main draw at a major tournament (Challenger or higher) since February.
