In many individual sports, there are always players who are left to rue what might have been had they played in a slightly different era. In golf, the likes of Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson would surely have won more majors if they had not had to compete against Tiger Woods. In tennis, Andy Murray managed to win three Grand Slam titles but would surely have won more had his entire career not overlapped with the game’s Big Three of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.
Germany’s Alexander Zverev is another who falls into that category. But now, finally, at the age of 29, he has managed to land his first Grand Slam. He has won over $60m in prize money, twice landed the season-ending ATP Finals, boasts an Olympic gold medal, and has won 25 singles titles, but until the 2026 French Open, the game’s very biggest prizes eluded him.
In the early stages of his career, he made his first ATP Final aged just 17, and he was competing well against the likes of Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. His game was never quite good enough to beat those legends on the biggest stage. Despite being a near-permanent presence in the top 10 of the ATP rankings since 2017 and peaking at number two in 2024 and into 2025, he was just unable to land one of the four Grand Slams.
With the gradual retirement and fading away of the Big Three, plus Andy Murray, and Zverev approaching his peak years, he may have expected to be able to bag a few majors. But then, of course, along came Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz.
The former has been a particular pain in Zverev’s sizeable side over the past 12 months or so. The Italian beat his German rival in the final of the Masters 1000 in Madrid in May 2026. Before that, he also beat him in the semis in Monte Carlo, Miami, Indian Wells and, at the end of last season, Paris too, all of those Masters 1000 tournaments!
Close But No Cigar
Zverev, who lives in Monte Carlo, made his first Grand Slam semi at the 2020 Australian Open. As the seventh seed, he lost to Dominic Thiem and later that year he made his first final in a major, losing to Thiem again at the US Open. That was a painful defeat to accept, with Zverev having breezed to the opening two sets before capitulating. He made two more semis the following year but missed out, while he made the last four at the French Open in the two years after that. Another semi-final appearance at Melbourne followed in 2024 before he made a second Grand Slam final at that year’s French Open.
Carlos Alcaraz came from two sets to one down to beat him in what was his fourth successive semi-final (or better) at Roland-Garros. The following year he made it through to the decisive match at the Australian Open, where the other member of the game’s new Big Two, Sinner, was waiting. Having acquitted himself well in his first two Slam finals, he was blown away in straight sets by Sinner, a feeling he would become very used to.
The 2026 campaign started with another last-four appearance in Melbourne. Seeded third, he lost a thriller over almost five and a half hours to Alcaraz and he must have thought his time would never come, with the Spaniard and Sinner seeming increasingly invincible.
Fate Left the Door Ajar and Zverez Walked Right Through
Alexander Zverev lifting his first Grand Slam trophy at Roland Garros.
The moment of his career.
‘The best player not to win a Slam,’ no longer.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 7, 2026
Luck plays a bigger part in sport than many people acknowledge. Just as Zverev must have been getting disillusioned and beginning to believe he wasn’t destined to win a Grand Slam, Lady Luck decided that Paris 2026 was his moment. But of course luck alone cannot bring glory, and Zverev’s countless hours of practice, hard work and dedication were needed, while he also had to hold his nerve to make sure he took advantage of his chance.
He came into the tournament as the second seed, with one of his most obvious rivals for glory on the clay of the French Open not even making it to the “start line”. Alcaraz, sadly for neutrals who love the game, is enduring a spell on the sidelines with a wrist injury. He will also miss Wimbledon. This automatically gave Zverev a much better chance of making the final, but things got even better, at least from his point of view.
In one of the biggest shocks for many a year, Sinner succumbed to the heat and illness, and maybe just a rare moment of weakness. He was defeated in the second round by Juan Manuel Cerundolo, ranked 56th in the world. At two sets and 5-1 up, Sinner lost 18 straight points and went on to lose the match in five sets.
Third seed Djokovic also went out in the early stages, with none of the players seeded fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth making it past the third round either. Zverev beat the 27th and 26th seeds in the quarters and semis, respectively, before facing 10th seed Flavio Cobolli in the final. The German was the clear favourite but was taken to a fifth set. Given his history, he must have feared the worst. But he delivered the goods, clinching the decider 6-1 to win his first Grand Slam. At last!