French Open: Zverev eyes Grand Slam breakthrough in final against Cobolli

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Alexander Zverev is hoping it will be fourth time lucky as he again targets a first Grand Slam title in Sunday’s French Open final, facing Italian 10th seed Flavio Cobolli.

The 29-year-old German was widely tipped as a future multiple major champion and the leader of the ‘NextGen’ to challenge the ‘Big Three’ of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer almost 10 years ago.

He missed his chances in that era, then watched as Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz emerged to mop up 11 Slam titles between them.

But Zverev has a golden opportunity at Roland Garros to finally end his wait to triumph at tennis’ top table.

Cobolli called the wide-open men’s draw the “chance of my life” earlier this week, but Zverev has been cautious in avoiding saying something similar.

Zverev will be a clear favourite when he steps onto Court Philippe Chatrier to take on Cobolli.

The pair are friends off the court, while Zverev holds a 3-1 winning record against the Italian on it. But the Italian posted his first victory over Zverev in Munich earlier in the 2026 clay-court season, before the three-time Grand Slam runner-up got his revenge in Madrid. “When you play a Grand Slam final, it’s not that difficult, because you reached the best stage in tennis,” Zverev said of playing a friend for a maiden Slam title.

Three
No. of Grand Slam finals for Alexander Zverev before tonight’s clash

Three
No. of ATP Tour titles won by Flavio Cobolli — two were on clay (Bucharest and Hamburg)

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