NEW YORK
\nTop seed Alexander Zverev banished bitter US Open memories to beat American Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2 in the final on Sunday, capturing the title six years after letting a golden opportunity slip through his fingers.
\nThe German squandered a two-set lead in the 2020 title match against Austrian Dominic Thiem, but now armed with a champion\u2019s mentality following his breakthrough triumph at Roland Garros in June, he broke American hearts with a devastating display against Shelton.
\n\u201cI think God has seen how hard we worked, how much we suffered, how much pain we went through, and I think 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before,\u201d Zverev said during the presentation ceremony.
\nThe home fans were desperate to see Shelton end a 23-year American men\u2019s Grand Slam drought, but the eighth seed never found his top form in his first major final.
\n\u201cI know that today 99.9% of the people wanted Ben to win, so I\u2019m very sorry,\u201d said Zverev. \u201cEven though I know that the crowd was against me, the crowd was always incredibly fair, and we as players we appreciate it.\u201d
\nZverev was so focused on the job at hand, he did not even realise he had won the title when Shelton smacked a service return long.
\nAs the umpire announced \u2018Game, set and match Zverev\u2019, the German headed back to the baseline, ready to receive Shelton\u2019s serve.
\nIt took him a few seconds to register why the cheering fans were giving him a standing ovation \u2014 as he belatedly cracked a smile and ran to the net to embrace Shelton.
\nHe was beaming again as he was handed a Grand Slam record $5.5 million winner\u2019s prize.
\nZverev gets hot start
\nIn a battle between two of tennis\u2019 most explosive players, it was Zverev who had all the early firepower, as Shelton\u2019s inexperience showed with a double fault on break point in the opening game.
\nShelton produced one of the points of the match in the sixth game, scrambling to reach a drop shot and prevailing in a tense exchange at the net.
\nEncouraged by his team, the American mixed in serve-and-volley tactics in an attempt to shift the momentum, but the move proved ineffective and he handed Zverev the set with a double fault.
\nThe partisan crowd tried to get under Zverev\u2019s skin in the second set, cheering wildly after he produced a double fault in the ninth game. But the German refused to get distracted, surging to a 5-0 lead in the tiebreak as the fans desperately chanted \u201cLet\u2019s go, Ben!\u201d
\nZverev looked like he would roll to the finish line in the third set as he saved a break point in the sixth game with a lethal backhand winner.
\nShelton\u2019s frustration boiled over two games later when he slipped and crashed to the court, prompting the American to let out an expletive.
\nBut Shelton dug in his heels, subduing his opponent with a series of powerful groundstrokes from the baseline to break serve and force a fourth set.
\nShelton\u2019s resilience only delayed the inevitable as Zverev came through a 25-shot rally to secure an early break in the deciding set. He never let go of that advantage as he finally got the chance to hoist the US Open trophy on his 11th appearance at the hardcourt major.
\n\u201cMy successes are a gift, the failures are a gift, and being here playing in front of you guys is a gift,\u201d said Shelton, the first Black American man in 54 years to contest the New York final after Arthur Ashe.
\nHis girlfriend, Olympic champion soccer player Trinity Rodman, made it to his player\u2019s box after racing 200 miles from her Washington Spirit game, which largely overlapped with the start of his match.
\n\u2018Jannik is still ahead\u2019
\nThe victory will no doubt help Zverev move beyond a series of Grand Slam disappointments. The German\u2019s career has also been overshadowed by allegations of domestic violence, which he has repeatedly denied.
\nHis two majors this season have made a dent in the duopoly of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, who won all eight Grand Slam titles across 2024 and 2025.
\nAlcaraz, who won this year\u2019s Australian Open, exited the US Open in a quarter-final defeat by Shelton after a long injury layoff, while Sinner pulled out injured before the tournament began after winning Wimbledon.
\nAsked if he considered himself the world\u2019s top player now, Zverev said, \u201cWith Jannik Sinner being injured and Carlos Alcaraz coming back from injury after four months, right now, at this moment, probably yes.
\n\u201cBoth of them healthy and both of them at the top of their game, maybe not.
\n\u201cIf everyone is healthy, I think Jannik is still ahead. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK Top seed Alexander Zverev banished bitter US Open memories to beat American Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2 in the final on Sunday, capturing the title six years after letting a golden opportunity slip through his fingers. The German squandered a two-set lead in the 2020 title match against Austrian Dominic Thiem, but …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":102947,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-102964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":102976,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102964\/revisions\/102976"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}