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By Megan Armstrong
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World No. 1 men's singles tennis star Jannik Sinner shook up Roland-Garros when he suffered a second-round loss at the hands of No. 56 Juan Manuel Cerundolo. With Carlos Alcaraz sidelined with a wrist injury, the door was open for a man not named Carlos or Jannik to win a Grand Slam major for the first time since 2023.
Novak Djokovic, who has an all-time most 24-time Grand Slam titles, emerged as the darling. It would be romantic for him to capture his 25th major at 39 years old, especially because he was the last male Grand Slam champion not named Carlos or Jannik, as he claimed the 2023 US Open.
But then Djokovic lost to 19-year-old Brazilian phenom Joao Fonseca in the third round. Djokovic's exit ensured a first-time Grand Slam champion would be crowned at Roland-Garros.
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It turned out to be No. 3 Alexander Zverev. The 29-year-old German national defeated Italy's Flavio Cobolli in a five-set thriller Sunday morning. And he does not care about the context around his first French Open title.
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"If you call me the worst player to win a Grand Slam, I could not care less right now," Zverev said at his post-match presser. "If somebody thinks that, that's fine."
Later, Zverev added:
"Now, no matter what happens, I will always be a Grand Slam champion, and nobody can take that away from me. Maybe that does give me some freedom. Maybe that does give me some — maybe my mind would just be a little bit calmer when I play finally. Meaning that, even if I lose it, I will still be a Grand Slam champion.
This trophy, for me, is very important because if I would have lost this one, the self-belief would have gone down a lot. But now that I've won it, I feel like I can do it again."
According to Dan Imhoff's dispatch for Roland-Garros' official website, Zverev's 125 Grand Slam matches are the most by any player before finally winning a singles major title.
Zverev is the first German man to win a Grand Slam singles major title since Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open, per ATP Tour. He is also the first man not named Carlos, Jannik, or Novak to win a Grand Slam singles major since Rafael Nadal won the 2022 French Open.
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