Nobody would have bet a cent on this poster but the ocher fortnight has become crazy, between the withdrawal of the double title holder Carlos Alcaraz, injured in a wrist, and the premature exits of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic, victims of the heatwave which overwhelmed Paris.
This is a godsend for the 29-year-old German, accustomed to the supporting role for years: the Spaniard overthrew him in the final of Roland-Garros in 2024, the Italian beat him in their last nine confrontations including the final of the Australian Open in 2025, and the Serbian eliminated him in the quarter-finals in Paris last year.
Always placed but never crowned, the Hamburger has a reputation as a player who is certainly talented but whose mind wavers in important moments such as during his three failures in the Grand Slam final.
At the US Open in 2020, against Dominic Thiem, he led two sets to zero then served for the match in the fifth set before being knocked down by the Austrian; in Paris in 2024, after taking out Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud, he lost in five sets against Alcaraz, collapsing 6-1, 6-2 in the last two sets; in Melbourne in 2025, he lost in three straight sets against Sinner.
He never doubted his ability to one day add the only missing line to his great list of achievements (24 titles), including two victories at the end of the year Masters, an Olympic gold medal (2021) and seven Masters 1000.
“For several years I was No. 2 or 3 in the world. So, I feel like I can go back to that time. Last year I didn’t play well. But I felt like I could get there and get back to that level. I always thought I could do it,” said Zverev, whose last title dates back to Munich in April 2025.
Zverev advantage
In Paris, Zverev was quickly promoted to the rank of favorite, dominating without trembling his opponents from a new generation called to supplant its elders.
However, he worked like hell during his successive appearances at press conferences to distance himself from this label. “I concentrate on the next match, on my opponent, these are the only things I can control,” he said each time.
To end his curse in the Major, he will find on his way Flavio Cobolli, 24 years old, who until now had never gone beyond the quarter-final stage in a Grand Slam.
The elimination of his compatriot Sinner opened his part of the table, in which he took out Félix Auger-Aliassime (6th) in the quarter-finals before qualifying for the final without even setting foot on the clay court of Central after the withdrawal of Matteo Arnaldi (104th), affected by a virus.
“That gives me almost four days (without playing) so I risk losing the rhythm. But I’m going to train, I’m going to be ready for the final. I also know that I will be fresh, that’s for sure,” declared the winner of three ATP 500 titles: Hamburg, Bucharest (clay) and Acapulco (hard).
Zverev and Cobolli have faced each other four times in the past year. The German pocketed three victories, the last of which on clay at the Masters 1000 in Madrid on April 30 (6-1, 6-4), and the Italian one, at the ATP 500 in Munich on April 18 (6-3, 6-3), also on ocher.
