As the man who had condemned him to his first bruising grand slam final loss watched on, Alexander Zverev finally overcame his demons, and the spirited but inexperienced Flavio Cobolli, to claim a first major title, winning 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7(5-7) 6-1 at Roland-Garros.
Dominic Thiem was responsible for his five-set loss in the US Open showpiece six years ago and the scar tissue from that defeat, and two more since in slam finals, were evident in a nervy and generally low-quality showing on Court Philippe-Chatrier on Sunday.
But Zverev, the overwhelming favourite for the title in the absence of Carlos Alcaraz and after the exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, ultimately managed to conquer his own mind and break world No 14 Cobolli’s resistance. He was given a significant helping hand from Cobolli himself in a four-and-a-quarter-hour final decided more on errors and psychological wobbles than anything else.
At 6’6” Zverev’s most potent weapon is a powerful and accurate first serve – he leads the tour for his percentage of first serves in over the last year, at just below 73 per cent – while his huge wingspan means he can effectively straddle most of the court. His power is complemented by a surprising athleticism for a player of his size and a languid touch at the net. When he is on his game he is difficult to break down.
This was the mammoth problem facing 10th seed Cobolli. Nerves in a first grand slam final are inevitable and Zverev, with his experience of this stage, was always likely to settle quicker. He ensured the pressure was immediately on Cobolli as the German opted to receive, with an early double fault greeted by a round of sympathetic applause which probably did not help the Italian’s nerves.
It set the tone for the rest of the set: he struggled to string a run of points together, with his backhand wing wilting under the pressure and his drop shots falling miserably short of the net. A usually charismatic presence, he was timid and passive.
A stunning forehand winner by the German, whose destructive serve and groundstrokes were near-untouchable, sealed a 6-1 first set in 35 minutes. Unsurprisingly Cobolli left the court, as the speakers, perhaps distastefully, played Lenny Kravitz’s ‘It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over’.
As he re-emerged Cobolli opted for a different tactic, trying to energise himself and the crowd, shouting to himself with every point won. The pair traded holds until 3-3, but Zverev, who had only dropped one point on serve until the seventh game, suddenly wobbled. He lost two in a row, with Cobolli planting a forehand winner in behind him to launch chants of “Flavio”, and as Zverev erred the Italian finally earned a first break point – 63 minutes into the match. He double faulted twice – for the first time in the match – and hammered a forehand wide to concede a first break.
An increasingly confident Cobolli served out the set, and having recovered from his first-set jitters Cobolli ran Zverev close in the third, with the pair exchanging holds until 5-4 and the Italian’s strategy of serve-and-volleying and keeping points short working to his advantage – until he conceded a cheap break under little pressure, serving at 5-4 down.
It put Zverev only a set away from the holy grail. And as at so many points in his career, when so close to the title, he began to shrink into himself. A terrible service game including two double faults handed over an early break. After another pair of breaks traded Zverev became listless, standing with his hands on his hips in disappointment after thumping a poor backhand well wide at 30-30 on the Italian’s serve, with Cobolli escaping to lead 5-3. It is an image crowds have seen many times before.
Zverev was lucky to avoid a time violation for obvious mind games as he ambled slowly to the baseline for Cobolli to serve for the set, and looked to be suffering from cramp, either due to understandable nerves or low blood sugar levels (the German has been open about managing tennis with Type 1 diabetes).
He was handed a violation in the next game after breaking again, having received some sort of remedy from his team, and held to 15 to put the pressure back on Cobolli. The Italian responded with his first hold to love of the entire match to set up the biggest tie-break of either player’s life.
Cobolli opened it with possibly the point of the match, a superb backhand winner which just kissed the baseline, before immediately netting on his own serve. Yet another unlucky net cord handed over the mini-break, but he restored parity with a Zverev error and another big serve when it mattered.
Zverev produced a sixth double fault of the match to drop from 3-1 up to 5-3 down, and although he won the next point, Cobolli bamboozled him with a brave drop shot to earn two set points. A terrible overhead smash indicated, if proof were needed, that the nerves were wreaking havoc on both sides of the net. But he whipped a forehand beyond the German’s reach to condemn him to a decider.
Cobolli had had three days off before the final after compatriot Matteo Arnaldi withdrew from their semi-final but as the clock ticked towards the four-hour mark the energy that had propelled him into the decider deserted him. More poor shot selection dominated his first two service games and he was broken twice before calling the trainer for an issue with his calf, fatigue setting in.
A dreadful backhand into the net gave Cobolli two break points but the Italian spurned them again, flailing an overhead smash into the net with the court at his mercy, to get back to deuce. Zverev double faulted again, but went on to hold for a 4-0 lead. At 5-1 down the light went out of Cobolli’s eyes and a double fault brought up three championship points for the second seed.
One was saved by a net cord, but Cobolli flung an overhead smash miles wide – a fitting last shot, in many ways – to belatedly bring an end to Zverev’s nearly-man status.
“It’s not easy for me to talk right now,” 24-year-old Cobolli said afterwards with a sad smile. “It’s been an honour to share the court with you today. I’m happy for you but I’m also sad because I was close and I feel it… so now you’ve achieved your dream let me win it next time.” The danger for the rest of the tour is that now Zverev has overcome what was always his most significant opponent, his own mind, there may be more slam titles to come.
