Alexander Zverev finally landed the Grand Slam title that threatened to elude him after overcoming Flavio Cobolli and his own nerves to win a tense French Open final in five sets.
The 29-year-old German secured his first, long-awaited major triumph with a 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 victory over 10th seed Cobolli on Sunday evening in Paris.
After losing his three previous Grand Slam finals, second seed Zverev became increasingly tight against an opponent playing in his first championship match.
That was in marked contrast to the start of the match, where Zverev raced through the first set and quickly reasserted his authority after Cobolli snatched the second.
But the stress levels increased for Zverev in a dramatic fourth set where he twice fell a break down, produced a series of costly double faults and needed electrolytes to fight off cramp.
Cobolli could not serve the fourth set out at 5-4 up and blew his first set point in the tie-break by framing a simple forehand volley, but recovered to force a decider.
Both men continued to show anxiety in a final set which veered between entertaining and excruciating to watch.
Zverev made slightly fewer errors to move a double break ahead at 3-0 and dragged himself over the line as Cobolli ran out of steam.
When Cobolli dumped a smash long on the second match point, Zverev instantly fell backwards onto the clay and sobbed into his hands.
World number three Zverev is the first man other than Jannik Sinner or Carlos Alcaraz to win a Grand Slam singles title since 2023.
The leading two players had swept the past nine majors between them, but Sinner’s early exit in Paris, and Alcaraz’s absence with injury, provided a golden opportunity for the rest of the field.
Zverev assumed the mantle as title favourite – and, despite the burden of expectation, has managed to deliver at long last.
