Alexander Zverev is no longer the best player never to win a major. The German closed a years-long pursuit on Sunday, beating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier to claim the Roland Garros title and, with it, the first Grand Slam crown of his career.
It came in his fourth Grand Slam final and after three previous defeats at the last step, a run that had defined Zverev as much as his talent had. When Cobolli netted an overhead on the second championship point, more than four hours after the first ball, the 29-year-old dropped onto his back on the clay and covered his face, his shirt and arms streaked red, before rising to lift both arms to the Chatrier crowd.
A draw blown open. The path was unusual, and Zverev took full advantage of it. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner fell in the second round to Argentina’s Juan Manuel Cerundolo, while Carlos Alcaraz withdrew before the tournament with injury, handing Zverev the second seed. Novak Djokovic was beaten in the third round by 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca. With the sport’s dominant names gone, the final became a meeting of two first-time finalists rather than the blockbuster the draw had promised on paper. Zverev, the world No. 3, dropped only two sets on his way to the championship match.
A final with a twist. Cobolli reached his maiden major final without striking a ball in the semifinals, advancing via walkover after Matteo Arnaldi withdrew with a viral illness. The rust did not show early — Zverev raced through the opening set 6-1 — but the Italian, roared on by a box dressed in national blue and chants of “Ole, Ole, Ole,” fought back to level and later snatched a tense fourth-set tiebreak, in which Zverev squandered a 3-1 lead. Zverev had needed treatment on his upper right leg late in the fourth, and a fifth set looked dangerous.
It was not. Zverev saved all four break points he faced in the decider, found his first serve when it mattered and broke twice to surge clear, closing out the most important set of his life with the same authority that opened the match.
Joining select company. The win placed Zverev alongside Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic and Dominic Thiem as players who captured a first major in a fourth final, and made him the first German man to win a Grand Slam singles title since Michael Stich and Boris Becker. There was warmth at the trophy ceremony, where Adriano Panatta — the 1976 champion and a product of the same Rome club as Cobolli — presented the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Cobolli, gracious in defeat, told Zverev that whenever anyone had asked him who deserved the title, “I always said you.” ATP Tour
The triumph completes a Roland Garros weekend of breakthroughs, a day after Russia’s Mirra Andreeva won her first major in the women’s final.
What’s next. Zverev now turns toward the grass with the weight of the “best without a Slam” tag finally lifted, a status that should sharpen rather than soften his ambitions for Wimbledon and a US Open where, in 2020, this long chase began.
