Alexander Zverev once again felt the pressure in a Grand Slam final.
This time — his fourth time — the outcome was different.
Zverev steadied his nerves when it mattered most to outlast Flavio Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the French Open championship match on Sunday afternoon. The 29-year-old got the best of a roller-coaster ride against a good friend and heavy underdog, triumphing after four hours and 16 minutes.
Zverev’s three previous major final appearances resulted in a pair of five-set losses (to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open and to Carlos Alcaraz at the 2024 French Open) and one straight-set defeat (to Jannik Sinner at the 2025 Australian Open). Heading into Sunday, the German had played a total of five sets with a chance to clinch Grand Slam glory (he led Thiem two sets to love before losing the next three and led Alcaraz two set to one before losing the next two).
That streak reached six when Zverev failed to close out Cobolli in a tense fourth set. The Italian, who served for the set at 5-4, eventually converted his second set point with a blistering down-the-line forehand a 6-5 in the tiebreaker following a shocking volley miss at 6-4.
In the fifth, though, Zverev was just as dominant as he had been in the first. The world No. 3 broke right away — just as he did in the first — and never looked back en route to his long-awaited first Grand Slam title. It ended in appropriate fashion, with Zverev converting championship point by scrambling all over the court and forcing Cobolli to hit one more ball than he may have expected — which the 24-year-old sent well out with a final errant overhead.
“I was just very tight today,” Zverev admitted during his press conference. “I honestly feel like I’ve managed the last two weeks extremely well… But then today I feel like I didn’t manage so well. I feel like the match was a lot more up and down. I think the level was not as stable as the previous matches for me, and I was a lot more nervous — which at some stage is also human, I think.
The third seed started struggling a bit physically late in the fourth, too, although that was likely due to nerves. And it may have been a blessing in disguise.
“I was cramping…even though I don’t think the cramps were physical. I think they were more mental. I was very tightened up. I was very, you know, emotional. I was a bit unstable also in the fourth set. I actually think that the cramps helped me in a way. I think that I let go. I kind of hit my shots a bit more and then just let go…. That’s why I played the fifth set the way I did.
“The fifth set went my way, and I’m happy about that and happy to be sitting next to this beautiful trophy for the first time.”
Cobolli was playing in his first Grand Slam final, an outsider still standing on the last day of a tournament marked by absences (Alcaraz did not even play, nor did Lorenzo Musetti and Arthur Fils) and early exits (Sinner bowed out in round two, Djokovic lost in round three). The world No. 14 came up just short but will still make his top-10 debut on Monday.
“First of all, I want to say congrats to Sascha for this title,” Cobolli commented. “I think he deserved it. I also think today he deserved it more than me at the end of the match. But I want to say also thanks to me for what I did in this two weeks. I never expect all my life that this kind of result, and I’m so proud of myself.”