PARIS — At this French Open, opportunity does not just knock for Alexander Zverev. It’s banging down his door.For the three-time Grand Slam finalist, often called the best male player to have never won a major, the 2026 Roland Garros draw has opened up beyond his wildest dreams. World No. 2 and two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz withdrew ahead of the tournament, with a right wrist injury. Then Jannik Sinner, last year’s finalist and the world No. 1, lost in the second round, and Novak Djokovic, a three-time champion, lost in the third.This is uncharted territory for Zverev, 29. He entered his three previous major finals as the underdog, two of which ended in defeat to either Sinner (2025 Australian Open) or Alcaraz (this tournament two years ago). The third was the 2020 U.S. Open, when Zverev met Dominic Thiem.Six years ago, Thiem was in the position Zverev is now. The Austrian had also lost his first three Grand Slam finals, all against Djokovic or Rafael Nadal, and was finally playing against someone he was widely expected to beat.His performance in the final was an example of how Zverev should not approach the next few rounds: Both men delivered the tightest, nerviest displays of their careers. Zverev went up by two sets to love, but Thiem came back, before stumbling over the line in an agonizing fifth-set tiebreak, with both players looping the ball back to each other and gripped by tension. The match was played in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium, because of Covid-19 regulations.Zverev, who plays Spanish rising star Rafael Jódar in his quarterfinal Tuesday, is now in a position of experience over the rest of the field. Only one other man in the last eight (Italy’s Matteo Berrettini) has reached a major final; Zverev, the world No. 3, is one of two top-10 players remaining, alongside world No. 5 Félix Auger-Aliassime.On paper, Zverev is the overwhelming favorite, which creates a fascinating dynamic for a player who has spent the past year trying to shed his natural inclination to be safe and steady when the biggest titles are on the line.Having seen Alcaraz and Sinner take matches away from him with attacking, front-foot tennis, he vowed to play more aggressively. When Zverev first became a force on the ATP Tour, his combination of a huge first serve and the ability to play like a human backboard bamboozled even the Big Three. Zverev and Daniil Medvedev, one year his senior, asked Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to adjust their games, blending the profiles of huge server and baseline grinder which had previously been mostly kept apart.Zverev reached those three major finals, became world No. 2 and won Olympic gold (at the 2021 Tokyo Games) and seven ATP Masters 1000 titles playing his older way. But it wasn’t enough to get past Thiem; the Big Three adjusted and then Alcaraz and Sinner arrived, playing hyperaggressive tennis with such elite returning that they could both hit through Zverev and blunt his most powerful weapon.