{"id":48258,"date":"2026-06-05T09:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/french-open-no-djokovic-not-a-sinner-there-is-no-alcaraz-just-alexander-zverev-and-his-demons\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T09:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T13:47:36","slug":"french-open-no-djokovic-not-a-sinner-there-is-no-alcaraz-just-alexander-zverev-and-his-demons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportsdaily.news\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/french-open-no-djokovic-not-a-sinner-there-is-no-alcaraz-just-alexander-zverev-and-his-demons\/","title":{"rendered":"French Open: No Djokovic. Not a sinner. There is no Alcaraz. Just Alexander Zverev and his demons"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With his most talented rivals long gone from Roland Garros, the French Open men’s title looks set to fall squarely on Alexander Zverev versus his demons.<\/p>\n

Finally, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is just around the corner. Zverev, 29, will be heavily favored to win the two games he needs to shed his tag as the best player without a major victory after a Grand Slam resume that has been plagued by chokeholds, bad luck and the curse of two generations of colossal champions at the top of the sport.<\/p>\n

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It should be easy. It will probably be torture. And this may be his last and best chance to rewrite the story of a career that many fans have taken great pleasure in watching falter every time they get their hands on the biggest trophies.<\/p>\n

“For me it’s very simple: I’m playing well,” Zverev said after his relatively easy quarterfinal victory over 19-year-old Rafael Jodal. “Like I said before, you have to really trust your game. You have to trust your tennis, you have to trust yourself. I think if you play well, that’s 99 percent of the job.”<\/p>\n

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Ah, but that remaining one percent, the percent that shortened the 6-foot-6 German in his biggest moments, and the percent that keeps his many detractors holding out hope again, hangs like an anvil on this French Open.<\/p>\n

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Because Zverev’s story is not a simple one, and such a result on Sunday would complicate the reaction to him becoming a Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

The point here is that no one in tennis has accomplished more than Zverev without winning a Slam. Not just among his contemporaries, but throughout the history of the sport. With an Olympic gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, plus 24 ATP titles, including two year-end championships and seven at the Masters 1000 level, it’s safe to say he’s had a more fulfilling career than many already inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

As part of the so-called “sandwich generation” of players born in the 1990s, caught between the end of the Roger Federer\/Rafael Nadal\/Novak Djokovic dynasty and the bold rise of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, trying to win even a single tournament title has often become a humiliating ritual. If Zverev can accomplish that, he would become the third player in the past decade to do so, joining Dominic Thiem (2020 US Open) and Daniil Medvedev (2021 US Open).<\/p>\n

Given his ability and longevity as a top player, Zverev has effectively been a top-five player in the world since the summer of 2017, so it would be fitting, even deserved, for him to win a major.<\/p>\n

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But here’s the part that’s not so simple. Due to the multiple controversies surrounding Zverev, it will not be easy for many fans to accept him as a Grand Slam champion.<\/p>\n

While Zverev was aiming to advance to the final against Alcaraz in 2024, a civil court hearing was taking place in Berlin over allegations of domestic abuse by his ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea. Ms Patea claimed in 2020 that Zverev pushed her against a wall and strangled her during an argument, a claim Patea denied and dismissed as “sheer bullshit”. The case was settled on the morning of the Roland Garros semi-final, with Zverev agreeing to pay a fine of 150,000 euros and donate 50,000 euros to charity.<\/p>\n

Another ex-girlfriend, Olya Sharapova, accused Zverev of abuse in a 2021 Slate article, but did not press charges. Zverev also denied these allegations and sued the author of the work in a German court (this case is still unresolved). Meanwhile, ATP investigated the incident and found enough evidence to sanction him.<\/p>\n

Over time, these alleged incidents faded into the background, but have not been forgotten by many fans and commentators like Mary Carrillo. Carrillo withdrew from broadcasting the 2021 Laver Cup (a team competition between Europe and the world) due to his participation.<\/p>\n

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Although they pale in comparison to the domestic violence allegations, Zverev had other violations that made him something of a noir on the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n

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