Germany’s tennis star, Alexander Zverev, has revealed that winning his first Grand Slam title at the 2026 French Open has given him a sense of relief and mental freedom heading into future finals.
Zverev captured the breakthrough title after defeating Italy’s Flavio Cobolli in a dramatic five-set final at Roland-Garros, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 to finally end his long wait for a major crown and shed the label of the best player yet to win a Grand Slam.
Speaking in an interview with the Roland Garros website, the German said the achievement lifted a huge psychological burden, stressing that becoming a Grand Slam champion permanently changes how he approaches future finals.
“Now no matter what happens, I will always be a Grand Slam champion, and nobody can take that away from me,” Zverev added.
“To be honest, I’m a little bit drunk already, so I just repeat myself a little bit more than I’m used to. I’m just happy to be sitting next to this trophy.”
“For sure this trophy helps the belief a lot.
“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.
“I think 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.
“I was just very tight today. I honestly feel like I’ve managed the last two weeks extremely well, because with all the losses that happened early on with Jannik Sinner going out, with Novak Djokovic going out, I managed to stay composed, I managed to stay calm in my mind.
“But then today I feel like I didn’t manage so well.”
