While the French Open final didn't exactly go as easily as Alexander Zverev might have hoped after he won the first set 6-1, he was still able to overcome Flavio Cobolli to win his first Grand Slam title. No longer is the German at the top of the list of best players to never win a major.
Instead, whenever his career ends, he will simply be remembered as a great player, not a player who was very good but could never claim one of the four trophies at tennis's most important events. He won't be recalled as the best player ever, but maybe the best of his short tennis generation.
Daniil Medvedev, who, along with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz, was at the top of their age of the sport for years, has a major. The others don't. Zverev and Medvedev are now equals, except that the Russian has reached No. 1 before.
Alexander Zverev erases his name as the best tennis player to never win a Grand Slam
Still, Zverev, after defeating Cobolli 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-1 at Roland Garros, no longer needs to worry about being mentioned as the best to never do something specifically elite. He's done it.
Who are the best ATP players never to have won a major after Zverev won Roland Garros, though? It's a tight list full of very good, but seemingly not great enough, players. That includes the following:
- David Nalbandian
- Nikolay Davydenko
- Miloslav Mecir
- David Ferrer
- Marcelo Rios
Of the above, maybe only Rios truly rivals Zverev. The others were excellent players, but Zverev had a level of sustained success for arguably longer than any of the above. He could likely also defeat anyone on the list if all are playing at top form.
Rios did something the German hasn't done yet, though. The Chilean reached No. 1, the only player to have reached that ranking to not win a major. Rios lost the Australian Open final in 1998 to Petr Korda, and Korda would be penalized for testing positive for steroids just a few months later.
The Chilean also completed the Sunshine Double in 1998, winning Indian Wells and the Miami Open, two events Alexander Zverev hasn't yet won. The German has won seven masters 1000 tournaments total, though.
Plus, Alexander Zverev, after winning Roland Garros, is still young enough to potentially win more majors. He is just 29 years old. He will more likely have to keep pushing back Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, but if the chance to win another Grand Slam title presents itself, the German could take care of his opportunity.
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