When Flavio Cobolli’s last ball flies out, Alexander Zverev almost falls onto the clay in delay. Sobbing, he puts his hands over his eyes. It took him five sets (6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1) and more than four hours, but after this Roland Garros final, Zverev can finally call himself a Grand Slam champion.
The victory follows a surprising tournament. World number one Jannik Sinner was out of the tournament early and Novak Djokovic also lost in the third round. And since Carlos Alcaraz did not participate due to an injury, Zverev, as number three in the world, was the big favorite from that moment on.
Zverev has been close to a Grand Slam title before: he was in the final three times before, but he was unable to capitalize on those opportunities. In 2020, he even gave away a 2-0 lead in sets over Dominic Thiem during the US Open. In 2022, he had serious chances to beat Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros quarterfinals. But that dream was over in one fell swoop when he landed incorrectly during a rally and tore his ankle ligaments.
Outside of the Grand Slam tournaments, Zverev managed to win just about everything there is to win: Masters tournaments, the ATP finals, for the eight best players of the year, even Olympic gold. He was often called the best tennis player who never won a Grand Slam title.
Unparalleled tennis and showers of errors
The final this Sunday is changeable. Both players alternate matchless tennis with showers of errors. The first set is certainly not a feast for the eyes. Zverev, who is usually known as a slow starter, starts the match fairly sharply. But Cobolli is clearly nervous. The experience of a Grand Slam final is completely new for the Italian. He makes far too many mistakes and partly because of this he gives up his service game three times. It looks like this won’t be a long, exciting match.
Cobolli started the match nervously, but showed in the second set why he was in the final.
Photo Stephanie Lecocq / REUTERS
Zverev during one of his great backhands.
Photo Benoit Tessier / REUTERS
But this is tennis, a sport of many momentum changes, and Cobolli shakes off the nerves. He is much sharper on the court in the second set, and Zverev becomes a bit sloppier. Cobolli no longer gives away a break halfway through the second set. The match will be exciting.
Cobolli is enthusiastically encouraged. The French public loves the success of an underdog, and moreover, it has not only been Zverev fans in the stands for several years now. Since being sued for domestic violence by his girlfriend and the mother of his child in 2023, protest actions sometimes take place during his matches. The German court fined him 450,000 euros. Zverev, who has always denied the allegations, appealed and the case ended in a settlement – he paid 200,000 euros.
German fans in the stands at the Court Philippe-Chatrier.
Photo Thomas Samson / AFP
Things go smoothly in the third set, but at 5-4 Cobolli’s service goes wrong. At 30-0, there doesn’t seem to be much going on, but then he no longer wins a point, and suddenly he has lost the set.
Yet the momentum immediately changes again: helped by two double faults from Zverev, Cobolli is suddenly ahead by a break. He cannot hold on to that and he also loses a second lead. But after an exciting tiebreak, in which the Italian shows why he is in this final, the set is really his.
But then it’s over. Although the physio previously came onto the track for Zverev, it is now Cobolli who has the most physical strain. He is slower, therefore makes more mistakes and immediately surrenders his service game. And although he certainly has great chances to clear the deficit, it no longer becomes really exciting in the fifth set.
Cobolli can still laugh after the match. He congratulates Zverev on the victory. “But now that you’ve achieved your dream,” he adds, “you can let me win next time.”
Flavio Cobolli catches his breath after a lost point.
Photo Stephane Mahe / REUTERS