Zverev ended his long wait for a major title, winning the 2026 French Open and claiming his first Grand Slam singles crown. World No. 3 Zverev defeated Italy’s Flavio Cobolli 6–1, 4–6, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–1 in a gruelling five-set final on Court Philippe Chatrier.
The reigning Olympic gold medalist, a three-time Slam runner-up, dominated the first set and reasserted control after Cobolli’s second-set rebounce. Cobolli pushed the match to a tiebreak in the fourth, but Zverev broke early in the fifth and raced to victory in 3 hours 21 minutes.
Zverev went into the French Open final under intense pressure to finally secure his first Grand Slam title, facing Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in what looked like a rare window of opportunity for the German.
With world number one Jannik Sinner and two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz both out of the tournament, and Novak Djokovic also eliminated early, the third-ranked Zverev walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier without any of the sport’s current “Big Three” on the other side of the net.
The 29-year-old was contesting his fourth major final and his second at Roland Garros, still searching for a breakthrough after three painful defeats at this stage. He had let a two-set lead slip against Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final, lost from two sets to one up against Alcaraz in the 2024 French Open title match, and been beaten in straight sets by Sinner in the 2025 Australian Open final. His run in Paris this fortnight had reinforced his status as one of the game’s most consistent clay-court performers, but also revived questions over whether he could close out the biggest matches of his career.
