Bridesmaid no more.
Alexander Zverev has finally joined German tennis legends Steffi Graf and Boris Becker as a grand slam champion, outlasting Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 in Sunday’s Roland-Garros final to shed his status as the best player without a major title.
The three-time grand slam runner-up collapsed onto the Parisian clay in an emotion-charged moment after one last exertion was rewarded when Cobolli shanked an overhead beyond the baseline to concede the match.
The thrilling contest lasted 4 hours and 16 minutes, marking the third successive year that the men’s final went the distance. It was a fitting climax to a riveting fortnight of upsets and drama.
“I’ve had the best moments of my life on this court, and I’ve had the worst moment of my life on these courts,” Zverev said.
“I was laying in that corner over there four years ago [during a semi-final against Rafael Nadal] with seven broken ligaments and two fractured bones. I lost a grand slam final year two years ago. But now, finally, it’s a happy end.”
No German man had won a grand slam singles title since Becker won at the Australian Open three decades ago, and none had triumphed at Roland-Garros in tennis’ open era – but both droughts are over.
Zverev, 29, is now among his country’s exclusive group of men’s winners on the sport’s biggest stages, along with Becker (six titles), Michael Stich (one), Gottfried von Cramm (two) and Henner Henkel (one).
He probably felt like he should have been there already after serving for the 2020 US Open title against Dominic Thiem – who was in the crowd on Sunday – and leading Carlos Alcaraz by two sets to one in the Roland-Garros final two years ago. But Zverev suffered gut-wrenching five-set losses on both occasions.
There was also a straight-sets defeat to Jannik Sinner at last year’s Australian Open.
Zverev, a former junior world No.1, has spent his career locking horns with tennis titans, from Novak Djokovic to Nadal and Roger Federer, and now their successors Sinner and Alcaraz.
That is why it was hardly surprising that a reporter asked Zverev after his semi-final win whether he doubted this day would come. But he emphatically dismissed the question, saying he always believed a grand slam title was within his reach.
That became more realistic when Sinner and Djokovic lost on consecutive days last week, while defending champion Alcaraz is nursing a wrist injury.
Zverev is the first men’s player outside the aforementioned group of tennis royalty to win a major championship since Daniil Medvedev at the 2021 US Open.
It seemed for a while as if Zverev might cruise to victory.
He broke Cobolli on his fourth opportunity in a marathon opening game of the match, then repeated the dose in the fifth and seventh games to snatch a one-set lead in 39 minutes.
The Italian leaked errors and lacked patience hunting for winners, while making few inroads on Zverev’s formidable serve in the first set, but audibly urged himself on after almost every point he won in the early stages of the next set.
That manufactured emotion did the trick as Cobolli slowly gained a foothold in the match.
Then, with Zverev cruising at 30-0 on serve in the seventh game of the second set, things suddenly unravelled out of nowhere for the giant German.
Cobolli did his bit to make it happen, but Zverev was mostly his own worst enemy throughout the game, becoming uncharacteristically loose off the ground and tossing in two double faults.
The No.2 seed sprayed an inside-out forehand well wide on Cobolli’s second break point to find himself 4-3 down – and the match was locked at a set-all soon after. The strain began to tell on Zverev, who yammered towards his team as the tide turned.
The third set was a tense affair as they traded service holds, but Zverev generally did so far easier thanks to landing 79 per cent of his first serves and winning 18 of those 19 points.
Cobolli could hang on for only so long after having to play pressure points regularly, including fending off a pair of break points in the fourth game. Similarly to Zverev a set earlier, he collapsed from 30-0 while trying to level the set at five-all.
Four consecutive errors off the world No.14’s racquet handed Zverev a two-sets-to-one advantage, but the rollercoaster was not over.
Perhaps distracted by the finish line approaching, Zverev missed four of five first serves and committed another two double faults to immediately concede serve in the fourth set.
Cobolli helped him retrieve that break in a wayward sixth game, only for the Italian star’s aggressive swinging to pay off once more. He throttled a down-the-line forehand winner past an approaching Zverev to reduce him to 15-40 before the German thudded a volley into the net.
Even then, the hard-hitting Cobolli had to keep working overtime to hold serve, not helped by his first-serve percentage temporarily dipping below 40 per cent.
As cramping began to set in, Zverev started swinging more freely. He thrashed two forehand winners with that approach, then blasted a spectacular backhand through Cobolli’s defences to break back again and draw level at five-all.
The chair umpire gave Zverev a time violation ahead of his next service game after he downed pickle juice and a tablet – but he was able to force a tiebreak.
Cobolli rallied from 1-3 to earn a set point on serve, only to misread a high volley and somehow put it wide.
It mattered little because he continued his gutsy approach on the next point, thumping an audacious forehand into the corner to send the contest to a deciding set and spark his own animated celebration.
Cobolli opted to leave the court between sets, but had the worst possible start as he conceded serve to put Zverev in the driver’s seat. The German delivered back-to-back double faults to leave the door ajar for Cobolli, and eventually had to stave off a break point, but held for 2-0.
Cobolli had trouble holding serve for much of the final and handing over a second break effectively sealed his fate, even as he earned more break points on Zverev’s serve in the next game.
The Italian’s consolation in defeat is he will make his top-10 debut on Monday.
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