The German beats home idol Ben Shelton in the final and closes his extraordinary season with his second Slam after Paris
2026 is the year when Alexander Zverev he rewrote his history. He was considered incomplete, a loser who left room for his opponent in decisive moments. He carried with him the terrible memory of the final lost at Flushing Meadows in 2020 when with a two-set lead he stalled and finally lost in the fifth set against Dominic Thiem. Then there was the ankle injury until the arrival of the new generation, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who seemed to have scraped away the dreams of the no longer so young “Sascha”. He found himself having to read other people’s names in history books until he got his chance. He took it in Paris against Flavio Cobolli and he took it again in New York against Ben Shelton, the home idol, who he beat in four sets, trembling only after the knockout of the third which seemed to make old ghosts reappear.
The strange epilogue
In the sixth and decisive game of the fourth set, Zverev had closed with yet another serve but, perhaps due to a deep state of concentration, he didn’t realize he had won the title. Sascha in fact requested more balls to go on to bat and continue the game while the crowd stood up to applaud him. At that point he realized what had happened and was able to celebrate his victory in the second Slam of 2026.
Favorite
Zverev was the favorite seen on the eve the absence of Sinner and the return of Alcaraz after many months of stopping. The Spaniard’s exit burdened him with other responsibilities, but in New York there was a new Zverev, confident and focused on achieving the second trophy in a Slam of this fantastic 2026. In France he had given his Germany back a Slam at 30 years after Boris Becker’s last one (Australian Open 1996) and today he emulated his predecessor who had triumphed in the Big Apple in 1989. But the scope of today’s victory is also enormous in an absolute sense. In the Open Era, only three before Zverev had won their first two Slams in the same year. Jimmy Connors won three on grass in 1974 (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open), Guillermo Vilas won two on clay in 1977 (Roland Garros, US Open) e Sinner dominated on hard courts in 2024 (Australian Open, US Open). Zverev not only matched them, but also became the first ever to do it on two different surfaces.
