Alexander Zverev ended his long wait for a first grand slam title with a five-set victory over Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final.
It is nearly six years since the German blew a golden chance to win the US Open against Dominic Thiem, while he also lost in Paris to Carlos Alcaraz two years ago and to Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open last year.
Alcaraz did not even make the startline here and Sinner’s early exit made this the opportunity Zverev had been waiting for.
Tenth seed Cobolli was an unexpected if not wholly unlikely opponent, and the Italian recovered well from a nervous start in his first slam final to push Zverev all the way before the second seed claimed a 6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7 (5) 6-1 victory.
An emotional and exhausted Zverev collapsed onto the clay when a final overhead from Cobolli landed well long before the good friends shared a long hug.
It was not quite the dramatic denouement of 12 months ago, when Alcaraz and Sinner contested one of the best matches of all time, but it was a fitting ending to what has been a refreshingly unpredictable tournament.
The winner will certainly not be universally welcomed, though. While Zverev’s tennis CV merits a major title, he is a polarising figure after being accused of domestic violence by two ex-girlfriends.
He has strenuously denied all the accusations but Brenda Patea, who is also the mother of his daughter, took her case to court before Zverev reached a financial settlement.
Zverev is the first German man to win a slam singles title since Boris Becker at the Australian Open 30 years ago, while it is so long since a German won this title that the victor, Henner Henkel, later died at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Both men had lost only two sets in reaching the final but Cobolli had been given a walkover in his semi-final after friend and countryman Matteo Arnaldi came down with an ill-timed stomach virus.
Cobolli has been rising over the past couple of years and reached his first slam quarter-final at Wimbledon last year but this was a big step up for the 24-year-old.
Initially it appeared it would be too big, with Zverev sweeping through the first set, breaking the Cobolli serve three times.
The Italian was struggling to find the balance between consistency and aggression, but he geed himself up at the start of the second set and settled into the contest.
The presence of Thiem, who trailed Zverev by two-sets-to-love in New York in 2020, in the crowd should have been enough to indicate to Cobolli that he could find a way back.
He finally applied some pressure to the Zverev serve at 3-3 and earned his reward, with the 29-year-old firing a forehand wide on break point.
Zverev’s demons did not seem to be far from the surface as he ranted at his support box, earning a round of booing from the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Cobolli is an easy player to like with his puppyish energy, passion and varied game, and the crowd were fully behind him as he pulled level.
The Italian’s weakness comes in shot selection, and two missed forehands at 4-5 in the third set donated what was a hugely significant advantage to his opponent.
Still there was the feeling that Zverev could beat himself, and the fourth set was a case in point.
Twice he trailed by a break and twice he fought back, including playing a fine game to break Cobolli when he served for the set at 5-4.
Zverev, who is a Type 1 diabetic, looked to be struggling physically, stretching out his legs, and he consulted the trainer after receiving a package from his team.
At 3-1 up in the tie-break, victory was tantalisingly close, but back came Cobolli, and the Italian recovered brilliantly from missing an overhead on his first set point, powering a forehand down the line to keep his chances alive.
That effort seemed to take it out of the Italian, though, and the decider quickly got away from him.
