Alexander Zverev battles past Flavio Cobolli for first Grand Slam title of career at Roland Garros

Alexander Zverev has finally captured the long-awaited first Grand Slam title of his career, after battling past Flavio Cobolli, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-1, in the final of Roland Garros on Sunday.

It was the German's fourth Grand Slam final, but he finished runner-up the first three times, losing five-setters at the 2020 US Open (to Dominic Thiem) and 2024 Roland Garros (to Carlos Alcaraz) before falling in straight sets at the 2025 Australian Open (to Jannik Sinner).

He was in danger of becoming just the third man in the Open Era to lose their first four major finals, after Ivan Lendl and Andy Murray.

But his name won’t go on that list anymore after a gutsy victory over first-time major finalist Cobolli, a victory that also gives him a pretty nifty stat: Zverev has now won titles at every level in his career.

Arguably the most accomplished men’s player ever without a Grand Slam title going into Roland Garros this year, Zverev has now conquered every tour-level category in his career—ATP 250, ATP 500, ATP Masters 1000, ATP Finals, Olympics and now, finally, Grand Slam.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV'S 25 CAREER TITLES BY LEVEL:

• Grand Slam: 1 [2026 Roland Garros]
• Olympics: 1 [2021 Tokyo]
• ATP Finals: 2 [2018, 2021]
• ATP Masters 1000: 7 [2017 Rome, 2017 Canada, 2018 Madrid, 2021 Madrid, 2021 Cincinnati, 2024 Rome, 2024 Paris]
• ATP 500: 6 [2017 Washington DC, 2018 Washington DC, 2021 Acapulco, 2021 Vienna, 2023 Hamburg, 2025 Munich]
• ATP 250: 8 [2016 St. Petersburg, 2017 Montpellier, 2017 Munich, 2018 Munich, 2019 Geneva, 2020 Cologne-1, 2020 Cologne-2, 2023 Chengdu]

The German actually joins a very exclusive list with that feat, as he’s just the fourth man ever to win a tour-level title at every level in his career, following Andre Agassi, Novak Djokovic and Murray.

And for anyone wondering how Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal aren’t on that list, Federer was only missing the Olympics (one final) and Nadal was only missing the ATP Finals (two finals).

After racing through the first set in just 39 minutes, it looked like the No. 2-seeded Zverev might be headed for a routine win on Sunday.

But the No. 10-seeded Cobolli had other plans—not only did he get his first break of the match at 3-all in the second set en route to evening the match up at a set apiece, but then, after Zverev bounced back to take the third set, the Italian came through in a marathon 78-minute fourth set after serving to stay in the match at 4-5 and going down 3-1 in the fourth set tie-break.

He sent it to a fifth set with a huge forehand winner on set point.

But Zverev saved his best for last, battling through a series of long games to build a 4-0, double-break lead in the fifth and deciding set, and after Cobolli held one last time to get on the board in the next game, the German won two more quick games to close it out and finally—and deservedly—become a Grand Slam champion.

The 29-year-old is actually the first German man to win a major in over 30 years, since Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open.

He’s also just the third man born in the 1990s to win a major, after Thiem and Daniil Medvedev at the US Open in 2020 and 2021.

Zverev gave an emotional speech at the trophy ceremony.

“This court is so special to me in so many ways,” he told the crowd. “I’ve had the best moments of my life on these courts, I had the worst moment of my life on these courts—I was laying in that corner over there four years ago with seven broken ligaments and two fractured bones, and I lost a Grand Slam final here two years ago.

“But now, finally, it’s a happy end.”