With all the pressure on his shoulders following the exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev did not crumble at the French Open and clinched his maiden Grand Slam title.
Capping off a tournament filled with upsets, second seed Zverev came out on top in the Roland Garros final, beating Flavio Cobolli in five sets.
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The German became the first from his country to hoist the French Open men’s singles title, and the first to win a major since Boris Becker in 1996.
His triumph followed three near-misses in Grand Slam finals, Zverev coming up short at the 2020 US Open, the 2024 French Open, and the 2025 Australian Open.
Despite finally clinching his first, though, former British player Greg Rusedski doesn’t think he can go all the way at the upcoming Wimbledon championships.
Greg Rusedski reacts after Alexander Zverev wins Roland Garros
“He got over the hump,” said Rusedski in an episode of ‘Off Court with Greg‘. “That’s the most important thing.
“And you got to think, in the beginning of the year, he could have beaten Carlos Alcaraz, 5-3 serving for the match, he was a little bit tentative, but didn’t find a way.
“He will never have more pressure on him in this lifetime than this French Open. Once Sinner dropped out of the draw, everybody said Zverev should win. And he got the job done.
“And let’s not forget, he’s diabetic. So he’s dealing with diabetes, for which he has to balance his blood sugar out. We saw that in the final set, having to take some sort of medicine or something or some sort of electrolytes or nutrition to keep himself going.
“For me, the most important game was 3-0 (in the fifth set). He was up a double break. And that point that went on forever with the two overheads; finally, the second one missed by Cobolli.
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“Once he got up 4-0, he’s like, I’m finally nearly home. And that to me, if Cobolli breaks there, all of a sudden, you’re one break down in the fifth set, things can turn around. But he found a way.
“Also in the audience, we saw Dominic Thiem. That was probably the Slam where he thought I should have won that US Open, lost it in the final set tiebreaker. So he had a lot of things haunting him on the day, but he found a way.
“You saw his celebrations when he fell to the ground. And then when he was holding the trophy, he was shaking up above his head, showing it to the team who stuck through him through thin and thick.
“He can relax into it now. He can go after it. For me, Wimbledon, does he have a shot to win? I still think that’s not the best surface for him.
“But I feel like once you get to the US Open, you can kind of put him in the mix now with Sinner. And we don’t know where Alcaraz is going to be, if he’s going to be back or not. But delighted for Zverev. No more question marks. You’re a Grand Slam champion, deservedly so.”
Greg Rusedski praises Alexander Zverev’s mentality
Rusedski continued: “And on top of that, if you think of the mentality, Murray hired Lendl to get over that hurdle of losing in so many major finals.
“Sasha taking the time to go see Rafa at the academy, getting through that situation and, you know, coming into the French, nobody was talking really about him winning.
“Everybody thought Sinner, Sinner, Sinner. But once he fell out of the draw, you know, he was the man to beat.
“And he handled the pressure, handled the expectation. So absolutely delighted for him.”
Zverev has now triumphed at every big level in tennis: The ATP Finals, ATP Masters 1000, Grand Slam and the Olympics.
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