The Crown Awaits No Longer | Zverev's Roland Garros Victory

In our final episode of the Roland Garros season, we break down the moment Alexander Zverev has been chasing his entire career—becoming a Grand Slam champion in Paris.

After years of near misses, injuries, setbacks, and questions about whether he would ever get over the line, Zverev delivered on the biggest stage in tennis. We analyze his path to the title, the tactical keys to his victory, the significance of this breakthrough for his legacy, and what it means for the future of the men's game.

We also reflect on the defining stories of this year's Roland Garros, the standout performances throughout the fortnight, and where the sport heads next as the tour shifts from clay to grass.

Join us for one final conversation from Paris as we celebrate a historic triumph and wrap up an unforgettable Roland Garros.

Roland Garros Men's Final Review
  Alexander Zverev's First Grand Slam Title
 Legacy, Rankings & What's Next
  Looking Ahead to the Grass-Court Season

Thank you for following along throughout the tournament. We'll see you in the next chapter of the tennis season. 

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Transcript

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Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Off the Court. As you guys can probably hear, I am a little worse for wear, but we are here. We are giving you guys the recap show that we promised, and we are talking old things for the men's final from Roland Garris. After years of near misses, heartbreak, injuries, and questions about whether he'd ever get it done on the biggest stage. Alexander Zvorev is finally a Grand Slam champion. Congratulations to Sasha. The German star defeated Italy's Flavio Caboglio in an epic five-set Roland Garrus final to capture his first major title and become the first German man to win the French Open in nearly nine decades. The first German to also win a Grand Slam since Boris Becker in Australia in 1996. Today we're going to break down, discuss what it means for Sasha's legacy, look at the incredible run from Kaboli, and examine what these results say about the changing landscape of men's tennis, also what it might look like for Wimbledon as we head in, and what it just might look like in general. On paper, the score line tells us that it was a battle, and it absolutely was a battle. Five sets, of course, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1. But the score doesn't fully capture the emotional swings throughout the entire afternoon. Is where I've came out firing, he dominated the opening set and looked determined not to let another major final slip away. After losing previous Grand Slam finals at the US Open, Australian Open, and Roland Garris, he knew what was at stake. This was obviously important. Caboli, however, wasn't interested in being a supporting character. The Italian was playing in his first Grand Slam final and showed remarkable composure. He fought back to claim the second set and repeatedly forced Azwarev to confront the nerves and pressure that have haunted him in previous finals. The fourth set tie break felt like a turning point. Caboli stole it and suddenly the match was heading to a fifth set. And can I just say that that was a very, very intense moment. And many fans were probably wondering if history was about to repeat itself for Sasha once again. Instead, he delivered the strongest set of his career, a dominant 6-1 fifth set. No hesitation, no dramas, just classic Sasha. Obviously, what makes this victory so compelling is everything that came before it. For years, Sash has been one of the most talented players on tour, an Olympic gold medalist, a multiple Masters 1000s title, consistently ranked among the world's best, currently in the top three. Yet the Grand Slam trophy case remained empty. Every time he got close, something went wrong. Then there was the devastating ankle injury. You got it at Roland Garris in 2022 when he played Rafa in the semifinal. Many wondered whether he'd ever return at the same level. Fast forward four years, the same tournament, the same court, completely different ending. And this victory wasn't about just winning a title. It's about perseverance and it's about surviving disappointment long enough to finally experience the triumph. Now, of course, a gold medal is special. A gold medal is special in for more reasons than just playing for your country, but it is sort of the pinnacle. It's not something that everyone can strive for. It's once every four years. Not everybody's going to win Olympic gold. There is so many tennis greats that have not won Olympic gold. Obviously, Novak has won Olympic gold, but there is so many that have not. So it really is sort of that moment. But of course, everybody dreams from a young kid when they are, you know, playing tennis growing up and they want to do that professionally. They dream of Grand Slam wins, dream of Roland Garris, they dream of Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open. And to get one Grand Slam is amazing. Of course, we saw, you know, a new women's champion as well here at Roland Garris. But of course, Roland Garris has been slightly dominated by Rafael Nadal in the past. And obviously, with him out of the way the last two years, it was won by Alcaraz. And we've got finally a new champion for the first time in a very long time. But of course, we can't forget about his wonderful opponent, Flavio Kaboli. They're obviously really good friends as well. Of course, with the headlines belonging to Zwarev. Before this tournament, very few people had picked Kabali to reach the final. Of course, now he's a Grand Slam finalist. He has entered the top 10. And one fact that I do think we should mention is that both players are coached by their fathers. So both of them have that father-son partnership. It's also the first time a father-son partnership has won, obviously on Derub's side. But for Kaboli, that's impressive. That works. Throughout the tournament, he displayed confidence, shot-making ability, and a fearless attitude that suggests this may not be his last appearance on a Grand Slam stage. What impressed most people was his resilience. Every time it looked like Zwerev might pull away with it, Kaboli found another level, which is how we got to five sets. The atmosphere inside caught Philippe Chattier clearly was energizing him. The crowd was behind him, the Italian crowd was there. And he embraced the moment rather than shrinking from it, rather than just thinking, oh, this is Sasha's moment. He's definitely one to watch. He is going to for sure be a Grand Slam champion. He has only been on to a, you know, a select number of years. And we're just able to sort of see a little bit of a changing of the guard, not too much, but a little bit. Of course, this tournament was a new era for men's tennis. It felt different. There was no Carlos Alcarez, of course, no Rafael Nadal. Yannick Sinna was gone before the final weekend. And there was no late stage run from Novak Djokovic. For years, men's tennis revolved around a handful of familiar names. And now we're seeing a broader group of players capable of making deep runs. Obviously, we saw Jakub Menzik in the semifinal. We saw Oja Ali Hassim. You know, Zwerev finally getting his moment, and Kaboli has definitely announced himself on the tennis world stage as a serious contender. So many stars continue to emerge from this year's Roland Garrison on the men's side. We had Kwame and a lot of the other guys making it through as well. Deep, deep runs, Jodar, Fonseca, all of them. The depth on the HP tour has never looked stronger, to be honest. The question now becomes: is this the beginning of a new chapter or simply one of opportunity by a usual withdrawal? So, you know, based on the way the draw ended up, was this just a a blimp in the tennis calendar of some, you know, changes, or is this something that we're going to see more often moving forward? Is it going to be less of a Yannick and Carlos with Novak sort of on the sidelines and more, yeah, less less of that and more of this? Or is it this like a once-off? Um, I guess we'll see as we head into the grass court season. Um, but when we look back at this year's Roland Garris, the lasting image may be Sasha Zborev standing on court with a Grand Slam trophy in his hands for the first time, not because it was unexpected, but because it took 13 slash almost 14 years, years of criticism, years of coming close, years of disappointment, of injury, and finally that break breakthrough. Um, he's no longer in that category of players chasing a major title, and we know there's so many that haven't won one. Fritz hasn't won a title yet, David Ferrer never won a title, Joe Wilfred Songa never won a title, all of these guys amazing. Um, and then you had your ones that just won a one title here and there, Juan Martin Dapotro, um, Andy Roddick, all of these guys that were amazing, but they just won, you know, a one-off. There was no calendar glory for them, or there was no three-peat or two-peat or anything like that. It was just a once-op. So is this the one and only for Sasha? I guess that's the next question that we'll be asked, or is it the beginning of the Sasha, the Sasha phase? Now that he's got that under his belt, now that he's got the confidence, now that he is a Grand Slam champion. Where do we sort of go from here? Um and I think looking at it, the rest of the year, it's gonna be very interesting. You know, we've got Wimbledon coming up in a couple of weeks. Of course, we've now switched from clay to grass. We have Stukart on this week as well. Um, we have quite a few, you know, and if you're if you're looking at the calendar, it's gonna be one to look at. The new rankings will come out tomorrow as well. A few things have changed, a few things have adjusted. Let's quickly just take a little look at the live ATP rankings just to get a bit of an idea as we move through to the next round. All right, so we've got Cinner Alcarez, Zwarev, of course, Zwarev getting that 2,000 points in addition, um, but winning for winning. Um, Ozia El Yassim for Alex Dimor five, Ben Shelton six, Shelton in action in Stuttgart, um, Herterbosch for Diminor and Ozia Elyasim, Djokovic at seven, Medvedev at eight, Flavio Caboli in nine, Taylor Fritz, he's dropped down 200 points. Um, he is in action in Stuttgart, he's dropped to number 10 in the world, obviously consistently has been in the top five, so that's quite still no the number two ranked American now. Um, and Bublik, Lehechka, Rublev, Rud, Mossetti, Jakob Mensi up to 13, Daderi up to 17 after a good run. Hashnikov, Lerna Tienn, Valentin Vasherot to round out the top 20. Um, some others knocking on that door as well. Fonsecas 25 in the world, Rafael Garda, of course, making a good run. At Roland Garasisha as well, 23 in the world. Francis Tiafo just sitting outside the top 20 at 26, Tommy Paul at 28. So, um, and then Edgefrew running out the top 30 with Nakoshima and Al Nardi knocking on that door. So Al Nardi has gained a couple of spots. He obviously would have moved up a little bit if he didn't have that walkthrough earlier in the semifinals. Um, but that's where we're at. That is what is the live rankings currently as we head into this fresh week, Monday, the 8th of June, um, the live ATP Piff Rankings. Um and that pretty much wraps up our little show. We had a great time sharing everything with you guys from Rowan Garris, of course, um, some housekeeping. We will be back with Wimbledon updates. Um, and if you enjoyed listening to today's episodes, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, join us on socials. That is where we put most of our updates. Make sure you guys watch Serena in action in Queens. Can confirm only in action in doubles, not singles. Um, and definitely, definitely, definitely go and give both Roland Garrett champions a lot of love, a lot of positivity, a lot of good vibes as they head into the rest of their season. Um, and I just want to give a massive shout out to Eralo who has sponsored and stayed with us throughout this tournament. We thank you guys and we love uh partnering with Eralo. If you guys do not know what Eralo is, it is an all-in-one data sim e device, data e sim device, um, where you guys can download and get access from your phone, whatever country you're in, over 200 countries. Uh, you can find out more about it in the description below. Also receive a cheeky little discount. Trust me, it is definitely worth it, whether you were here at Roland Garris or heading to the the Wimbledon. The Wimbledon, heading to Wimbledon. Um, it is definitely worth having. So make sure you guys go and check out their data plans. And we will see you guys at Wimbledon. We will have an update next week from all of the in-between tournaments, the 250s, the 500s, and we look forward to it. Bye for now, guys.