Zverev ready to break grand slam duck after escaping mental 'hole'

When Alexander Zverev opened up about his mental struggles after a first-round defeat at Wimbledon last year, it seemed his grand slam dream may have ended.

Three times a losing finalist and with Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz pulling further away, Zverev was stuck in the mire on and off court.

“I feel very alone out there at times,” he said after defeat by Arthur Rinderknech.

“I’m trying to find ways to get out of this hole. I keep finding myself back in it. I’ve never felt this empty before. Just lacking joy in everything that I do.”

Now Zverev is one victory away from achieving his biggest goal, and for the first time he will be the overwhelming favourite in a slam final when he takes on Italian first-timer Flavio Cobolli in Sunday's French Open showpiece.

Zverev has reached 11 slam semi-finals in the last seven seasons with his most recent final coming at the Australian Open last January, where he lost in straight sets to Sinner.

“I was not playing the best tennis last year, but I felt like I was going to find it again,” he said. “Of course, I’m happy to be back at this stage.”

He is into his second final at Roland Garros, having lost in five sets to Alcaraz two years ago, while it is impossible to know how differently his career might have played out had he not blown a golden opportunity at the US Open back in 2020 against Dominic Thiem.

“That was exactly the time when I had real struggles with my serve and my second serve,” said the 29-year-old.

“I knew that my serve could break down at any moment. That’s one difference that I do feel now, luckily for me.

“I was up two sets to love. I was a break up. I was serving for the match, and it didn’t happen. That’s in the past, and I don’t try to think too much about it before Sunday.”

Zverev would not have been surprised to be facing an Italian in the final but it appeared odds-on at the start of the tournament to be Sinner and not 10th seed Cobolli.

The 24-year-old will break into the top 10 for the first time next week – and can take confidence from having beaten Zverev in Munich only a few weeks ago – but is in the unusual position of being in a slam final without ever contesting a semi-final, after Matteo Arnaldi pulled out shortly before Friday’s scheduled contest because of illness.

Now Cobolli will take on another friend, with Zverev saying of the Italian: “He’s just a nice person. He has a good heart. He is extremely funny if you get to know him.

“Of course, it’s his first final, so I’m happy for him that he reached it. But the only thing I can control is that I play good tennis.”

Cobolli, like Zverev, has lost just two sets in the tournament and it remains to be seen whether his unexpected day off will work in his favour.

“Maybe to have almost four days off is a lot, you lose the rhythm,” he said.

“I think I will be ready, for sure, but I also know I will be fresh. Maybe it helped, maybe not. I’ll tell you after the final.”