Alexander Zverev wins first grand slam after holding off Cobolli in French Open

No 2 seed beats Italian 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 Wins his first major in his fourth final Two weeks of excruciating nerves and tension across one of the most chaotic men’s grand slam tournaments in recent memory metcame to an appropriate conclusion as a nerve-rackingan excruciatingly tense five set psychodrama ended with Alexander Zverev , the second seed, lifting his first grand slam title by holding off his own demons to close out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1 win over the 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final. For so long, Zverev had won at every other level: he had triumphed at Masters 1000 events and twice at the ATP Finals, and he earned an Olympic gold medal in Tokyo 2020. But he had lost in all three of his major finals. A grand slam, the biggest titleprize of all, had always evaded him. From the moment Jannik Sinner, the top seed, and Novak Djokovic were bounced from the tournament in consecutive days, with Carlos Alcaraz absent because of injury, Zverev was clearly the best player remaining in the draw and. Cobolli, the world No 14, turned out to be the only top-25 player in his path. ItThis was reasonable to suggest that ifan opportunity the German didcould not take this massive opportunityafford to let pass him by. Addressing his team, he never wouldZverev, said: “We’ve been through injuries. He has finally clearedWe’ve been through heartbreak. We’ve been through losses. We’ve been losers at times in the important moments. But at the end of the day, we’re grand slam champions now and that bar’s what counts. One” A year on from one of the greatest-ever­greatest finals, Alcaraz’s astounding comeback against Sinner, this edition at times made for a painful watch as nerves struck both sides of the net, drawing out fearful, erratic tennis from all. Zverev was a picture of complete tension and discomfort throughout the second half of the match, as his age-old troubles with his forehand and second serve reared up again. He even cramped due to the emotional effort of trying to pull himself to victory. However, thrown into his first grand slam final, Cobolli felt the moment even more intensely. ZverevThe German drew on his first serve and his experience to drag himself through the fifth set to the victory he has envisioned for so long. “This court is so special to me in so many ways,” said Zverev. “I’ve had the best moments of my life on this court, I had the worst moment of my life on this court. I was laying in that corner over there with seven broken ligaments and two fractured bones. I lost. A grand slam final here two years ago. But now, finally, it’s a happy end.” The German remains a popular figure at most tournaments, and the Philippe-Chatrier crowd cheerfully received his victory, but this result is uncomfortable for many tennis fans and spectators around the world. Zverev has been accused of domestic violence by two of his former partners, Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea. He has repeatedly denied both claims. The second accusation, involving Patea, the mother of their child, led to a domestic violence case in Berlin, which began during the French Open in 2024, where Zverevhe reached his second grand slam final. The two parties eventually settled the case out of court. During the trophy ceremony of his third grand slam final, against Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open last year, Zverev was heckled by an audience member, with the spectator disrupting his speech by shouting: “Australia believes Olya and Brenda.” Considering how the last few days had gone for Cobolli, who reached his first grand slam final without striking a ball in the semi-final after his Italian compatriot Matteo Arnaldi withdrew because of a virus, Cobollithe underdog was understandably tense from the start. He was completely uncompetitive in the opening set. The start of a new set allowed Cobolli to regroup and as he returned more confident behind his serve. By 3-3 in the second, the match had changed. As Cobolli finally startedbegan to pressurefind his opponent’s serve, finding his range onwith his vicious forehand while courageously approaching the net and landing more returnsusing his drop shot well, Zverev’s familiar forehand and second -serve problems resurfaced. The GermanHe double-faulted twice in the game,at 3-3 and then he sprayedshanked a forehand wide on break point. Emboldened byBut Zverev’s nerves recovered in set three, completely outserving Cobolli flitted through his service games to take the set. Zverev was still tentative on his forehand throughout. While the third set but he re-establishedGerman rolled through his service rhythmgames without difficulty, serving excellently and shutting Cobolli outhis opponent landed 52% of his service games. The Italian did plenty well, particularly closing down the netfirst serves and striking his forehand with increasing freedom, but he was working much harder in his service games. It came as no surprise that,constantly under additional pressure at 4-. Down 5-4, Cobolli’s first serve disappeared and he struckfinally crumbled under that pressure, spraying three wild unforced errors in four points from 30-0 up to lose the set. Just as itIt seemed as if Zverev might definitively begin to pull away, but the approaching finish line invited only invited fear. For much of the fourth set, Zverevhe looked completely overwhelmed by his nerves. His forehand capitulated, his first serve percentage dropped and it looked as if he was in the early stages of cramps. He was there for the taking, but Cobolli felt the moment even more intenselywas also struggling. As he served for the fourth set at 5-4, Cobolli’shis first-serve percentagefigures had fallen to 39% for the set and he too was playing not to lose. It was Zverev who stepped up and attacked, lasering two backhand downduly found himself in a tie-the-line winners to retrieve the break. Four points away from defeat, having been reduced to nervously rolling the ballDown 3-1 in from far behind the baseline, the moment finally inspired the best of Cobolli. He ended the tie-break in a blaze of first serves, nuclear forehandsCobolli roared back and creative drop shots. He nearly lostended his chance, completely shanking a straightforward smash from on top of the net on his first set point at 6-4. He respondedbrilliant last stand with a searing running forehand winner to make it two sets all. However As he pumped his fists and shouted to his team, that escape robbed Cobollihe had put himself within a set of victory. However, his remaining mental energy reserves had also been exhausted. The Italian completely flatlined at the beginning of the final set, cheaply handing over his opening service game, and he never found his way back.