For two weeks they have been sparring partners, dinner companions and confidants inside the players’ lounge at Roland Garros. On Sunday afternoon, when Alexander Zverev and Flavio Cobolli walk onto Court Philippe-Chatrier for the French Open final, the friendship gets parked at the locker-room door. “We are very close, but for three or four hours he is not my friend,” Zverev said after dismantling Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in Friday’s semi-final. “He knows the same. There is a Coupe des Mousquetaires on the table. Nothing else matters.”
The pairing is the most unlikely Roland Garros final in two decades. Zverev, the world No. 3 and a three-time Grand Slam runner-up, finally arrives as the favourite at a major. Cobolli, the 23-year-old Italian seeded 14th, has surged from world No. 32 to a guaranteed top-10 debut on Monday after upsetting Carlos Alcaraz in five sets in the quarter-finals and ending Novak Djokovic’s run in Thursday’s semi-final, 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. It is the first time since Gaston Gaudio beat Guillermo Coria in 2004 that two players outside the previous year’s top eight have contested the Paris final.
A friendship forged on the practice courts
Zverev and Cobolli’s bond traces back to the 2024 Monte Carlo Masters, where the Italian — then ranked outside the top 60 — asked the German for a hit. They have practised together in Monaco roughly twice a month ever since, with Cobolli’s father and coach, Stefano, a former ATP player himself, regularly joining the sessions. The two have shared courtside boxes at football matches in Monte Carlo, and Zverev attended Cobolli’s first ATP title celebration in Bucharest last summer.
“Sascha has been like a big brother to me on tour,” Cobolli said in his on-court interview after the Djokovic win, fighting back tears. “He has shown me how to behave, how to train, how to lose. Now I have to find a way to beat him.” Zverev, eight years older and 19 ranking places higher, was equally candid: “I am proud of Flavio. I told him in the locker room that I want him to win every match he plays — except this one.”
Why this final matters
For Zverev, 29, the stakes are existential. He has lost three Grand Slam finals — the 2020 US Open to Dominic Thiem from two sets up, the 2024 French Open to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets, and the 2025 Australian Open to Jannik Sinner in straight sets. A fourth defeat would invite uncomfortable comparisons with Andy Murray’s pre-2012 wilderness years. Victory, conversely, would make him the first German man to win Roland Garros since Michael Stich’s 1996 triumph and the first to win any major since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
Cobolli’s run has already rewritten the Italian record books. He is the first Italian man to reach the French Open final since Adriano Panatta lifted the trophy in 1976. A win would give Italy two of the last three Roland Garros men’s champions, following Jannik Sinner’s victory twelve months ago. He is also the youngest finalist in Paris since Rafael Nadal’s debut triumph in 2005 at 19, and the first player ranked outside the top 25 to make the final since Gaudio.
What to expect on Sunday
The tactical picture favours Zverev on paper. He has won both their previous meetings — in straight sets at Halle 2024 and in four sets at the Rome Masters in May — and his serve has been the tournament’s most efficient, with 71 aces and a 74% first-serve points-won rate. His backhand down the line, the most reliable in the men’s game on clay, will look to exploit Cobolli’s slightly weaker wing.
Cobolli’s path to victory runs through his forehand and his legs. He has saved 21 of 27 break points in the tournament, and his five-set wins over Alcaraz and Djokovic suggest a player who thrives the longer matches go. The roof on Chatrier is expected to be closed on Sunday with rain forecast, slowing conditions further and arguably favouring the heavier-hitting German.
- Head-to-head: Zverev leads 2-0
- Prize money for the champion: €2.55 million
- Ranking impact: Cobolli to No. 8 with a win, No. 10 with a loss; Zverev closes to within 1,500 points of world No. 1 Sinner with the title
- Start time: 15:00 local (14:00 BST), Court Philippe-Chatrier
By Sunday evening, one of them will be a Grand Slam champion and the other will need a different friend to share the dressing-room walk. Both insist the bond will survive. Trophies, as Zverev put it, do not.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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