Zverev reveals the pressure he felt at Roland Garros after the fall of Sinner and Djokovic

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Alexander Zverev made headlines today after interrupting an interview with L'Equipe when asked about his domestic violence allegation. However, before that happened, the defending champion of Roland Garros 2026 also spoke about how he dealt with nerves after becoming the favorite following the elimination of Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

Initially, Sinner was the main favorite to win the tournament, followed by 'Nole,' until everything fell apart. The world number one fell in the second round to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo due to physical issues that ended in a disaster, while Djokovic lost in the third round to Joao Fonseca after winning the first two sets. This left Zverev as the number one candidate for the title, with the pressure that comes with it.

'Sascha' had never won a Grand Slam before, although he admitted that initially he was not as nervous as he thought. "You hear what is said, see everything happening around you, even when you aren't actively seeking it. But I really tried to focus on myself and the matches ahead. Of course, there was a lot of noise; I knew suddenly I was the favorite and in a situation I had never experienced before," he confessed.

Zverev analyzes how poorly he played in the Roland Garros final

Nevertheless, Zverev approached the situation philosophically... until the final. "I also knew that I am 29 years old, been on the circuit for over 13 years, and have had many experiences. Now I control my emotions better than before. Still, it was something new for me. I thought I was handling it well; I played good tennis until the final. In the final, I did not perform well. I was very, very nervous, very anxious. But in the end, I managed to control the nerves and win, which is the most important thing," he said.

In fact, that stomach flutter and that pressure came two days before the final. "I was nervous and anxious. Those are normal emotions in sports; they were just too intense. But I managed to cope; I handled them very well at the start of the match, played well in the first set and fifth set, the most important set," he concluded.

Zverev sees himself capable of winning a Grand Slam with Sinner and Alcaraz

The only asterisk on Zverev's first Grand Slam win is that he has not defeated Sinner or Alcaraz along the way, but he believes he is capable of doing so after shedding that weight off his shoulders. "When you win the first one, you tell yourself you can win many more. It's an incredible feeling. This match was really important for me. This tournament was really important for me. Because if you lose four finals, you start to doubt yourself."

It remains to be seen if shedding these burdens off his backpack will help him raise his level in the big tournaments and challenge the two circuit dominators, something that hadn't been possible to date. At least 'Sascha' can now say he has his first 'major', as he emphasized in his press conference, and that is something no one can take away from him. However, his mission is to sustain that good form and demonstrate that it was not just a one-day wonder or a consequence of several events.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Zverev desvela la presión que sintió en Roland Garros tras la caída de Sinner y Djokovic