Zverev has been tipped to win one of the sport’s biggest prizes since he emerged as a teenager – but his journey to a major trophy has taken longer than many expected.
As a precocious youngster, he caught the eye of seasoned stars including Roger Federer as he followed his older brother Mischa – an Australian Open quarter-finalist in 2017 – around on tour.
With his parents also having played professionally, the younger Zverev described himself as being “born with a racquet in my hand” – and he has ultimately developed into one of the world’s leading stars.
Zverev has sat comfortably inside the top 10 for most of the past nine years, encountering few problems while sweeping up the biggest ATP Tour titles.
But getting over the line at a Grand Slam has been a different story.
His chances of winning the most prestigious trophies were initially hampered by the presence of Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and then by the emergence of Sinner and Alcaraz.
Technical issues with his second serve, and a tendency to play passively against the very best, also let him down.
After losing his first three Grand Slam finals, many wondered whether Zverev had missed his opportunity.
This was probably not his last chance – but it was undoubtedly his best.
Zverev settled quickly as Cobolli’s nerves showed, using his powerful groundstrokes to devastating effect in a first set lasting only 35 minutes.
The second seed barely lost a service point at the start of the second set before Cobolli broke for 4-3 – helped by two double faults from Zverev – on his way to levelling.
Zverev’s ability to inject more pace in the baseline exchanges helped him decisively break in the 10th game of the third set, but tension took hold in a dramatic fourth set.
To Zverev’s credit, he reset admirably to claim the decider – before the emotion of what he had achieved was uncorked.
