By Roger Childs

Zverev wins the long final

I was close … let me win next time! –Italian finalist Flavio Cobolli

After 4 hours 16 minutes and five sets, not to mention 13 years of professional tennis, Sacha Zverev is at last a grand slam tennis champion. In an absorbing match which saw both players have their dominant periods the German won 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. The packed stadium saw a final which although entertaining did not have the quality of many recent French finals as both players made too many unforced errors and lacked consistency.

There were many excellent rallies and occasional aces, classy drop shots and quality passing shots, but there was not the brilliance of the stars of recent years like Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Sinner or Alcaraz. The big interest lay in the changing fortunes of the finalists within the match and who would triumph in the fifth set.

Cobolli a worthy finalist

Many pundits picked Zverev to win comfortably and his easy 6-1 first set success pointed that way. But Cobolli fought back in the second showing speed round the court on retrievals, a number of tricky drop shots and many down the line winners. Unfortunately less than half of his first serves went in and there were too many errors. However he won the second set 6-4 but at 4-5 down in the third on 30-0 Zverev had one on his aggressive bursts and won four points in a row to go ahead two sets to won.

The Italian took the German to a tiebreak in the fourth set and won it to send the match into a decider. However in the fifth he looked tired and at times tense, and Zverev seized the initiative.

Zverez was more relaxed 

The German generally served better and could pull out an ace at crucial times. He was generally relaxed on court and was able to shift up a gear with more aggression and power when he needed to in the final set. Consequently he cruised through this one 6-1 to take the match.

 Having kept his emotions under control until the final exchange, Sacha Zverev wept with the realization he was finally a grand slam champion.

In his victory speech the new champion spoke of how much he enjoyed playing at Roland Garros but did remark that he had his best and worst times on centre court in Paris, Back in 2022 he tore three ankle ligaments which required surgery and several months’ recovery, however winning the 2026 title was definitely the big high.

A big question many will now be asking is how Zverev will cope with the return of the world’s two best players: Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.