Zverev wins French Open

Let’s be honest, some of Zverev’s alleged off-court behaviours have made it quite easy- if not downright enjoyable- to witness his Grand Slam torment. I could have very easily lived in a universe where the German never broke that Grand Slam duck. But Zverev- regardless of what you think of him-is simply too good of a player to not have a slam.

The greatest player to never win a slam

Zverev’s victory in Paris means he will no longer be saddled with the label of ‘greatest player to never win a slam’. Zverev- like so many of his contemporaries- had the misfortune of maturing during the latter days of the so-called ‘Big-Three’. He was meant to be one of the de facto successors to the ‘Big Three’. But he just traded one dynasty for another, lost in the paradigm-shifting Sinneraz duopoly. But he still managed to rack up non-slam glory, winning two ATP Finals trophies to go with Olympic Gold. Few would have argued with the claim that he slowly built himself into the greatest player in history to have never won a slam.

Grand Slam tearjerkers

But oh, the heartbreak has been peak cinema. He blew a two-set against Thiem in the 2020 US Open final (imagine what he could have achieved if he had somehow managed to get over the line there). It almost set the template for the Grand Slam misery that was to follow. He tore ankle ligaments in a horror injury that saw him stretchered off in the 2022 French Open semifinal. He then suffered some injustice, with a controversial line-call altering the fabric of his 2024 French Open final with Carlos Alcaraz. He was thumped by Sinner in last year’s Aussie Open final before conspiring to lose after leading by a break in the deciding set of this year’s Aussie Open semifinal with Alcaraz (that man again).

The stars align

And this year has seen Zverev suffer some of his most notable defeats (namely the Alcaraz defeat in Melbourne and a series of dispiriting routs at the hands of Sinner). It got to a point where I wasn’t sure whether he would emotionally recover from that quickfire series of Masters defeats to the Italian world No.1. But this year’s chaotic French Open just never went according to plan, giving Zverev the opportunity to chart his own, unconventional path towards Grand Slam glory. The absence of Carlos Alcaraz gave the entire draw a bit of a boon. But it was the unexpected shock exit of Jannik Sinner that gave Zverev a real ray of hope. Sinner wilted in the heatwave that enveloped the early stages of the tournament, bowing out to Cerundolo in one of the greatest shocks in tennis history. Furthermore, Grand Slam demigod Novak Djokovic also bowed out early, ridding the tournament of the three marquee Grand Slam threats.

Zverev went about his business

Zverev must have felt like it was Christmas, Thanksgiving and Easter rolled into one. He kept control of his emotions, taking one match at a time and dropping just two sets en route to the final. He wasn’t playing incredible tennis, merely avoiding the type of mental collapses that he is renowned for. The final was a completely different affair, with wild oscillations in tempo and quality. The longer it went, the more it felt like a textbook Sascha choke-job. Zverev started well but grew increasingly tense as the match progressed, spraying forehands and cracking on 2nd serves in all too familiar scenes. Luckily for him, his Italian opponent was even tighter than him, completely capitulating in the decider to give Zverev the easiest of victory marches. Perhaps he needed a somewhat chaotic sequence of events to finally nab that elusive Grand Slam. Could this be his Phil Mickelson moment (Mickelson was a longtime underachiever at the highest level before going on a spree after finally grabbing that first Masters title)? Or is this a brief aberration in a stream of Sinneraz dominance? Time will tell.