Germany and Italy will not meet at the FIFA World Cup this summer after Italy failed to qualify for the expanded 48-team tournament. However, on Sunday at Roland Garros, the two countries will collide on the Parisian clay, where Alexander Zverev faces Flavio Cobolli for the title.
It is a final that brings together not just two players in form, but two nations with contrasting recent narratives. For Germany, Zverev carries the weight of expectation and history. For Italy, Cobolli represents the latest chapter in a rapid rise that has reshaped the sport’s hierarchy at the top.
Read more about the final
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Cobolli’s RG fairytale continues: Top 10 guaranteed, Top 5 possible
What is Zverev’s record in Grand Slam finals?
Zverev arrives in Paris once again as Germany’s standard-bearer in men’s tennis. A Roland Garros finalist in 2024 and a three-time major finalist overall, the World No. 3 has been a regular presence in the latter stages of the biggest events over the past decade.
His record underlines that consistency, with two Nitto ATP Finals titles, seven ATP Masters 1000 crowns and an Olympic gold medal in singles. The missing piece remains a major title, a milestone no German man has achieved since Boris Becker at the 1996 Australian Open.
Historically, Germany’s success at Roland Garros dates back further, with Henner Henkel the last German man to win the title in 1937. Zverev is aiming to become just the third German man in the Open Era (since 1968), to win a major, joining Becker and 1991 Wimbledon champion Michael Stich.
On the other side, Cobolli is part of an Italian group that has become a regular feature in the latter stages of major tournaments. He is the third Italian man in the past five years to reach a major final, following four-time champion Jannik Sinner and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini. Lorenzo Musetti has also added further depth to that trend with semi-final runs at Wimbledon in 2024 and Roland Garros in 2025.
Despite Sinner’s shock second-round defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo in Paris, Italy still had three men in the quarter-finals and two in the semi-finals, with Matteo Arnaldi withdrawing on Friday ahead of his clash with Cobolli due to a viral illness. Arnaldi had overcome Berrettini in the last eight when the former World No. 6 retired.
The 24-year-old Cobolli is bidding to become just the fourth Italian man to win a major title in the Open Era, joining Nicola Pietrangeli, Sinner and Panatta, who was the last Italian man to triumph at Roland Garros in 1976. Sinner won four major trophies across the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Cobolli will also move into the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings on Monday regardless of the result, becoming only the seventh Italian man to reach that milestone. For four decades, Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzutti were the only Italians to hold a place in that group, before Fabio Fognini, Berrettini, Sinner, Musetti and Cobolli expanded that list since 2019.
The broader depth of Italian men’s tennis is also reflected as you zoom further out in the rankings. On Monday, Italy is set to have eight players inside the Top 100 and six inside the Top 50, compared to Germany’s four players in the Top 100, with Zverev as its only representative inside the Top 50.
Zverev is also one of only two German men who have cracked the Top 10 this century, alongside Rainer Schuettler in 2003. The World No. 3 also helped lead Germany to United Cup glory in 2024.
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