ROLAND GARROS

June 7, 2026

Alexander Zverev

Press Conference

A. ZVEREV/F. Cobolli

6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Sascha, well done on becoming a Grand Slam champion. You seem to be struggling a little bit in the fourth set, at the end of the fourth set. What did you tell yourself, and how did you overcome that to take the title?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I was cramping. I was struggling physically a little bit, even though I don't think the cramps were physical. I think they were more mental. I was very tightened up. I was very, you know, emotional. I was a bit unstable also in the fourth set.

I actually think that the cramps helped me in a way. I think that I let go. I kind of hit my shots a bit more and then just let go.

And, of course, the fifth set went my way, and I'm happy about that and happy to be sitting next to this beautiful trophy for the first time.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Less than one year ago in London at Wimbledon you had a very intense press conference when you said that you felt empty and, I guess, very far from this moment. I wanted to know if you at some point lost the belief and how you rebuilt yourself because I felt that you are back at your competitive level pretty quickly in terms of weeks and months after that.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I started playing really well again, I felt like, in Vienna last year. Before that, last year was not a good year for me. I didn't play well.

I was struggling a lot with a lot of physical issues. I was struggling with my tennis. I just didn't play well.

I mean, for sure this trophy helps the belief a lot. I think, yeah, as you said, I'm far away from that moment right now. I think last year was one of the most difficult moments in my tennis career. This year is one of the happiest moments in my tennis career, and it's a very different feeling right now.

Q. You beat an Italian, very normal for you. Tell me something, you have said something like instead of being the best player who has never won a slam, I would prefer to be the worst player who has won a slam.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yes.

Q. How do you comment that? I don't think you're the worst player.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: If you call me the worst player to win a Grand Slam, I could not care less right now (laughing), if you think that.

Q. No, no.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, no, I'm just saying if somebody thinks that, that's fine because I...

Q. How important is for Germany after 30 years?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: I think first time a German has won Roland Garros in history. On the male side, of course. On the female side we had Steffi winning a lot of these, but on the male side I think it's a very big trophy for Germany. Again, the first to ever do it.

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.

Q. I saw you talking to TNT on court, and I know you want to live in the moment right now, but you talked about the future and how it will feel to play without the burden, some of the pain you felt in the past, and shortcomings. Now that you've got it all behind you, do you think it can really change the way you approach the slams and maybe your level of play will rise because you're more free?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, maybe. It happened for me very early at the Masters Series because I won one when I was 20 years old, and I've won a lot of Masters after that. So I had that release at a Masters-level event very quickly, and at a Grand Slam it took longer.

Now no matter what happens, I will always be a Grand Slam champion, and nobody can take that away from me. Maybe, yeah, 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, yeah, 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.

Q. I wanted to know what went through your mind after the match points when you fell down on the court. I think it was a moment you thought a lot before. What went through your mind at this exact moment? Was it relief or something like this?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: It was a combination of things. First of all, I didn't believe that I won. Then I saw my box, and they all kind of celebrated. That's when I realized that I've won. Especially seeing my father raise up his arms, that was when it kind of hit me that, okay, I won.

Then when I was on the ground, all the emotions came out because, again, I think this court is very, very special to me, but it's also special in a very positive way, but also special in a negative way, because I had some of the toughest moments of my life here, of my tennis career.

I was laying on this court with an injury that I didn't know if I will ever come back from. I lost a Grand Slam final here. All of those memories for me, they're not wiped out. They're still with me, but this one will beat all of them.

Q. Just to follow up on that, is that a little bit why you were saying about mental cramps? Were you having sort of memories of these past incidents during that fourth set?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, no, no, 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 going out, with Novak going out, I managed to stay composed, I managed to stay calm in my mind, and I feel like I was playing really, really good tennis.

But then today I feel like I didn't manage so well. I feel like the match was a lot more up and down. I think the level was not as stable as the previous matches for me, and I was a lot more nervous, which at some stage is also human, I think.

That's why I say the cramps helped me in a way, because my mind let go. I started swinging more freely. I started hitting the ball a bit more aggressive. All of that, you know, that's because the cramps. I couldn't focus on being tight anymore. I had to kind of let go. That's why I played the fifth set the way I did.

Q. Flavio said that towards the end of the fourth set and the beginning of the fifth set his legs were pretty much gone. Did you realize that he was struggling physically? Did he have any effect on how you played?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: No, I didn't realize he was struggling physically until after the match, because I talked to him, and he told me. I was more concerned with my own physical level, because as I said, I started cramping in the fourth set, as well.

But, again, I started hitting the ball a lot harder, and I started to let go of my arm a little bit. The end result was very positive for me.

Q. One shot that was very important today and all along the tournament was your serve. If you look at all the stats, you are No. 1. I'm curious, how do you work on that, and how do you fine-tune that? Because at this level of accuracy and efficiency, I guess it's very fine-tuning.

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Yeah, I think on clay the accuracy is probably even more important than the speed is, even though my speed was quite high this week.

Yeah, it's a shot that helped me out a lot throughout the two weeks here. In the most important moments I kind of could rely on that to kind of bail me out when I was not playing well from the baseline. It's definitely a shot that I've struggled with. I've lost the 2020 US Open Final because of that shot.

So I spent a lot of hours working on it, and I'm happy that it won me this trophy.

Q. It's been a long chase. Is there someone that you would like to dedicate this moment and this trophy to, other than yourself, of course?

ALEXANDER ZVEREV: Like Mirra says? I think in my scenario it's really a family effort and a team effort, because I've had the same team for 12 years, at least, with the same physical trainer, coaches even longer.

I think everybody deserves this trophy equally.