How Zverev battled two opponent on way to French Open title

When Alexander Zverev stepped on to the court for the French Open final on Sunday, he was up against two opponents, Italian Flavio Cobolli and Type 1 Diabetes. He beat the former in five grueling sets and the latter with an insulin injection at the start of the fourth set.

The new French Open champion was diagnosed with the condition when he was just four years old. Zverev's injection of insulin on the court comes three years after he was told by a French Open official to do it on a bathroom break. After criticism from the diabetes community, tournament officials later clarified that players with diabetes are permitted to administer insulin on court or during designated breaks in play.

"There are definitely two games happening at the same time: there's the match everyone sees, and then there's the one only I feel," Zverev told Reuters.

"If I don't manage my diabetes properly, I can't compete at the level I expect."

He added, "Most of the time, it's preparation that keeps them aligned. When something unexpected happens, I've learned to stay calm and trust the systems I have in place."

After painful past defeats in the title-matches at the 2020 US Open, Roland Garros in 2024 and last year's Australian Open, Zverev was considered by many to be the best player never to have won a Grand Slam. This year’s final was also on the same court where he twisted his right ankle and crumpled to the ground, wailing in agony before being pushed off on a wheelchair during a semi-final match against Rafael Nadal in 2022.

"All the emotions came out, because this court is very, very special to me. It's special in a very positive way, but also special on the negative way, because I had some of the toughest moments of my life here," Zverev said.

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

The 29-year-old joked it was "fine" if people now consider him "the worst player to win a Grand Slam" but that he "could not care less".

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

The Tokyo Olympics gold medallist said having the Coupe des Mousquetaires in his possession would make his future attempts at winning more of tennis' biggest titles less burdensome, mentally.

"For sure this trophy helps the belief a lot," he said.

"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 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."

Cobolli summed it up best at the presentation ceremony when he told Zverev: “If anyone asks me who deserves this title, I would say you.”

After all the previous heartbreaks and problems he has had to endure, the current world No 3 can finally rest on his laurels, at least for the time being.