Germany's Alexander Zverev fell to the red dust in tears after finally winning his maiden Grand Slam title age 29 with a roller-coaster victory over Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final on Sunday.
Zverev prevailed 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1 and is the seventh oldest first-time champion at a major in the Open era. He is the first German man to prevail at a Grand Slam singles event since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
The world number three took advantage of world number one Jannik Sinner crashing out in the second round on the Roland Garros clay and twice champion Carlos Alcaraz being ruled out by injury.
Zverev, who lost his three previous major finals in New York in 2020, Paris 2024 and Melbourne last year, will now hope to repeat the trick at Wimbledon in late June and early July.
His previous greatest success was Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021, as well as two Tour Finals triumphs in 2018 and 2021. But the lack of a major title had weighed on Zverev.
The Hamburg native revealed mental health problems in the wake of a first-round exit at Wimbledon last year.
Italian world number 14 Cobolli was also going for his first Grand Slam title after reaching the final when compatriot Matteo Arnaldi withdrew from their semi-final was just 20 minutes before the start.
He was bidding to be the first Italian man to lift the Coupe des Mousquetaires in 50 years after three Italians made the last eight for the first time - all without Sinner.
The 10th seed was under pressure in the opening service game but Zverev wasted his first two break points. The German pounced though to take a 1-0 lead when Cobolli mishit at advantage.
Zverev, dressed in black despite the Paris sun, easily served out his first service game for 2-0 and the German broke again for 4-1 after the Italian netted a drop shot.
Cobolli was initially struggling with the occasion and dropped his serve again as Zverev took the first set 6-1.
The 24-year-old Cobolli settled and the second set went with serve until Zverev's concentration wavered badly and his opponent broke for 4-3 and sealed the set.
Confidence was suddenly surging through Cobolli while the ease with which Zverev approached the first set had disappeared. But there were to be more twists in the tale.
Zverev failed to convert two break points at 2-1 in the third set but got another at 5-4 and Cobolli fired wide to gift the German the lead.
The German flags were waving again in the Philippe Chatrier stands. But another shift of momentum quickly came when a fifth double fault by Zverev and a wild forehand helped hand Cobolli the first game of the fourth set.
The Italian fans were singing football songs until yet another unexpected turn when Zverev was allowed to break back for 3-3. But the second seed could not capitalize and immediately lost his serve - only to break back for 5-5 after a superb shot down the line.
Zverev - a diabetic - had a mini break in the tie-break but the fresher Cobolli stormed back to force a decider.
The topsy-turvy nature of the contest was underlined by a fatigued Zverev, trying to fight off cramps, breaking twice at the start of the final set and fending off break points.
Zverev, a controversial figure in Germany after facing domestic abuse allegations which he denied and was never convicted of, then battled to a long-awaited prize.
