3 min readJun 8, 2026 04:48 PM IST
The Sunday evening in Paris ultimately brought solace for Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who finally became a Grand Slam winner after defeating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in a five-set thriller to win the French Open 2026 men’s singles title.
Zverev overcame Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the summit clash to become the first German man to win a Grand Slam since Boris Becker’s Australian Open triumph three decades ago.
An emotional Zverev said he would forever be a Grand Slam champion, adding that no one could take that away from him.
“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. It does give me some – maybe my mind will just be a little bit calmer when I play a final, meaning that even if I lose it, I will still be a Grand Slam champion,” he said in a press conference after the win.
“I think this trophy is very important for me, because if I had lost this one, my self-belief would have dropped significantly. But now that I’ve won it, I feel like I can do it again,” added Zverev.
When asked about his previous statement that he would rather be the worst player to win a Grand Slam than the best player never to have won one, Zverev said, “If you call me the worst player to win a Grand Slam, I could not care less right now (laughing), if you think that.”
Cramping in the fourth set of the final turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to Zverev, freeing him from his mental struggles. “With Jannik [Sinner] going out, Novak [Djokovic] going out, I managed to stay composed. But then today I feel I didn’t manage so well. I was nervous, but that’s also human,” Zverev said.
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‘Cramps helped me’
He admitted the cramps stemmed from nervousness but ended up being a blessing in disguise. “The cramps helped me because in the end they helped my mind let go,” he said. “That’s why I played the fifth set the way I did.”
Speaking about the significance of the achievement for Germany, he said, “I think it’s the first time a German has won Roland Garros in history. On the male side, of course. On the female side, we had Steffi [Graf] winning a lot of these, but on the male side, I think it’s a very big trophy for Germany. Again, the first to ever do it.”
“To be honest, I’m a little bit drunk already, so I’m repeating myself a little more than usual. I’m just happy to be sitting next to this trophy.”
