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If not now, then when? This year in Paris, a unique opportunity opened up for the wide field of perennial challengers to triumph. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz couldn’t compete due to a hand injury, and world number one Jannik Sinner collapsed in the second round. For a while, tennis fans looked forward to the 25th triumph of Novak Djokovic.
But even he fell short...
And this time, the eternal contender Zverev didn’t let the opportunity slip away. On his way to the title, he dropped only five sets, though in the final he did test his fans’ nerves a bit. He survived a five-set battle, even though he was struggling with cramps.
“But that was more psychological,” he explained. He defended brilliantly and forced his opponent into mistakes. The match point was handed to him by his opponent’s error.
“When I saw my dad raise his arms, it hit me: I did it,” Zverev realised.
He became the first German since Boris Becker in Melbourne in 1996 to lift a Grand Slam trophy.
Key Moments
Zverev - Rafael Jodar 7-6(3), 6-1, 6-3
The Spanish super talent started brilliantly. When he led 5-2 in the first set, many fans sensed another upset. But Zverev kept his cool and gradually tamed Jodar’s euphoria. He clawed back the deficit, took the set to a tie-break, and confidently secured the opening set. After that, his opponent, 10 years his junior, looked like a lamb. The quarter-final lasted just 148 minutes.
Zverev – Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
Zverev played the semi-final against the bold Czech with great authority. It also helped that Mensik had peaked in his quarter-final against Joao Fonseca and didn’t resemble the hungry beast from previous matches. The lapse in concentration that cost him the third set was corrected by a strong start to the fourth. Zverev took a 3-0 lead and held on until the end. It was the penultimate test for the future champion.
Zverev – Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1
He took the lead twice in the final, but his Italian rival managed to level the score both times. The fourth set was decided in a tie-break, where Zverev lost four of six points on his serve.
Normally, that would have affected him mentally. But this year’s French Open was not something Zverev was willing to let go. He handled the fifth set superbly, broke Cobolli’s serve, and in a crucial fourth game - when he was down 15-40 on his own serve - he saved three break points and went up 4-0.
This was the turning point, and Zverev produced exceptional defence - while Cobolli missed a smash, just as he did on match point.
Key numbers
4 – They used to say he didn’t have the mentality for a big win. You surely remember the 2020 US Open, where a collapse on serve literally handed the title to Dominic Thiem. Then he lost in Paris 2024 and in Melbourne 2025. It finally worked out at the fourth attempt.
But the number four is symbolic in more ways than one: To win at all four of the most prestigious events - Grand Slam, Masters, ATP Finals, and the Olympics? Before him, only Andre Agassi, Andy Murray, and Djokovic had achieved that. He became the fourth musketeer.
306 – That’s how many winners he hit during the tournament. In this statistic, he had no rival, even though the second and third - Mensik and Matteo Arnaldi (both 277) - played several sets fewer. Zverev’s most convincing match was against Tomas Machac in the second round (45 winners to 17 unforced errors), while in the final against Cobolli, he was in the negative (50-54).
41 – Zverev literally waited out his Grand Slam trophy. It took a total of 41 Grand Slam tournaments before he finally confirmed his talent with a triumph. Only Goran Ivanisevic waited longer for his first and only Grand Slam. When he won Wimbledon in 2001, he was 30 years old and playing his 48th Grand Slam.
The Philippe Chatrier court in Paris has become a fateful place for Zverev. It’s not just about the mentioned lost 2024 final to Carlos Alcaraz, where he led two sets to one. He has even more painful memories of the moment four years ago when he had to retire from a semi-final battle with Rafael Nadal. He tore ligaments in his right ankle, left the arena in a wheelchair, and at the time wondered if it was the last match of his career.
But 1,465 days later, he left the same court with his first and long-awaited Grand Slam trophy: “This court is truly special for me in so many ways. I’ve experienced both the best and worst moments of my life here,” he said.
That’s why the tears and the shirt were stained with clay. “When I was on the ground, all those emotions just burst out of me,” he admitted.