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Alexander Zverev’s best year in tennis continues, as does the American men’s long Grand Slam drought.
Zverev won his second major championship and disappointed a crowd desperate to see an American’s first Grand Slam title since 2003 by beating Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 on Sunday in the US Open final.
Zverev finally broke through to the majors, winning this year’s French Open and then capturing the New York title he so painfully missed out on in 2020.
First seeded at a Grand Slam for the first time, he took advantage of Shelton’s shaky start in his first major final, played a near-flawless service tiebreaker and then held off Shelton’s comeback attempt in front of a crowd that was desperately cheering him on.
“I know that today 99.9 percent of people wanted Ben to win, so first of all I’m very sorry,” Zverev said during the trophy presentation. “But secondly, it was an incredible atmosphere to play in. Even though I know the crowd was against me, the crowd has always been incredibly fair.”
Shelton was trying to win the first American title since Andy Roddick won at Flushing Meadows in 2003, as well as becoming the first black player to win the men’s crown since Arthur Ashe in 1968.
But Zverev was too good at the majors this year and apparently had no idea how good he was. He ended the match on his serve but did not seem to realize it, skating behind the baseline as if he was about to return. It was only moments later that he realized he had won and raised his hands in celebration.
“You’re one of the best players in the world, probably the best player in the world this year,” Shelton told Zverev.
Zverev improved to 25-2 in major matches this year and won US$5.5 million, matching the prize won by women’s champion Elena Rybakina on Saturday as the largest in Grand Slam history.
He thought the title would come in 2020 and still admits it was meant to be. He won the first two sets against Dominic Thiem and was two points clear of victory before becoming the first man to take a two-set lead and lose in the final since 1949.
Those ghosts that remained since then have now long disappeared.
Zverev also reached the Wimbledon final, losing to Jannik Sinner, and became the No. 1 seed in New York when top-ranked Sinner was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury.
“I think God saw how hard we worked, how much we suffered, how much pain we went through, and I think 2026 is the result of all the previous years,” Zverev said to his team.
Shelton had already eliminated the defending champion when he beat Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m. ET, the latest result in US Open history.
US men’s drought continues
But on Sunday he failed to become the first man to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to the U.S. Open title since 1975.
The No. 8 seed fell to 0-6 against Zverev, winning Sunday’s set for only the second time.
Shelton, 23, expects to get more chances, but the Americans, tired of waiting to celebrate the men’s title, wanted it now.
Fans stood and cheered as Shelton emerged from the tunnel before the game, but he gave them no reason to continue cheering once the game began. Serving first, he lost the first two points, and then, making a double fault, gave the game to Zverev.
Zverev maintained the lead until the end of the set, which ended with another double fault from Shelton.
Zverev’s deliberate playing style helped limit the crowd’s effectiveness. Fans are expected to remain quiet while the player prepares to serve and remain silent until the next play is completed.
Zverev tosses the ball several times – sometimes about 10, maybe a dozen, sometimes about 20, insisting that there is no particular pattern or plan – before he starts throwing the ball, which guarantees a long silence.
The fans tried to get around this by occasionally cheering him on when he missed his first serve (another tennis no-no for which they were scolded by the chair umpire), but Zverev, who said before the match that he liked a hostile crowd, seemed unaffected.
Zverev then missed Shelton’s chance to level the match in the tiebreaker.
Shelton returned Zverev with a long first serve, was beaten by a superb pass and then found himself on the wrong end of a 16-shot rally as Zverev went up 3-0. Zverev then hit serves of 147 mph and 124 mph, and Shelton was unable to return to the game. Shelton cut the lead to 5-2 and then got his only return of the game, but Zverev won the point and then hit another 139 mph serve to close out the scoring.