Alexander Zverev Champion at Roland Garros: He Finally Made It

Zverev started the final played on Sunday quickly. The German racquet, world number 3, set up his dominance at Court Philippe-Chatrier by closing the first set 6-1 in only 35 minutes. Cobolli could not shake off the tension in his first match; he stumbled against Zverev's deep shots and could not protect his service games. However, in the second set, the Italian player came to himself: Cobolli, who preferred more aggressive shots, showed resistance in long rallies at the baseline and equalised the score by taking the set 6-4. In the third set, the table turned in Zverev's favour again; the German racquet went ahead 6-4 by protecting his service in critical moments and approached only one set away from the championship.

The fourth set forced the match. Cobolli took the set to a tiebreak to grab the opportunity to win his first Grand Slam in the match of his life. Taking the fourth set 7-6 (5), the Italian managed to take the match to the fifth set and created a historic moment for himself and all Italian tennis fans; if Cobolli had won, he would have become the first Italian men's player to win Roland Garros since Adriano Panatta in 1976. However, Zverev used his experience and nerves well in the last set. The German racquet, who started the deciding set with a double break, first escaped from 0-30 and then took the score to 4-0 with successive break opportunities. Despite Cobolli showing small resistance at the last moment, when Zverev reached the set and match point, he caught triple match point; with the Italian making a double fault, the match ended. Zverev fell to his knees on the clay court and broke into tears; for the German racquet, who had not won any tournament for more than a year, this victory carried a completely different meaning.

With this victory, Zverev became the fifth player in the Open Era (after 1968) to reach Grand Slam finals and lose the first three and succeed in the fourth; previously Andre Agassi, Goran Ivanisevic, Dominic Thiem and a few names had been included on the same line. By an interesting coincidence, 1999 Roland Garros champion Andre Agassi watched the match from the stands. Previously, Zverev had lost to Thiem in the 2020 US Open final, to Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 Roland Garros final and to Jannik Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final. Zverev, who won his first Grand Slam at the age of 29, also went down in records as the seventh oldest male player in tennis history in terms of the age he won his first major. Zverev, who reached his 550th ATP tour-level victory during the tournament, also became the first player born in 1990 and after to reach this threshold. Cobolli, despite the final defeat, guaranteed entry into the top ten players in the ATP ranking to be announced on Monday.

The 2026 Roland Garros final took shape as a natural result of the surprises experienced throughout the tournament. World number 1 Jannik Sinner had been eliminated in the early rounds of the tournament; Cobolli's opponent in the semi-final was Lorenzo Sonego or Luciano Arnaldi — Arnaldi had to withdraw from the semi-final due to injury, and Cobolli completed his journey to the final without playing in the semi. Zverev, on the other hand, had prepared for this important appointment by defeating Czech racquet Jakub Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in the semi-final. Zverev, who took the cup in his hand at Court Philippe-Chatrier, said in his statement at the ceremony that this moment he had been waiting for years had come and his efforts had finally paid off. Zverev, the champion of the men's singles section of Roland Garros 2026, also went down in history as the first German men's Roland Garros champion since Henner Henkel in 1937.

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