ATP Tour

Zverev’s shot at joining exclusive club: One major down, another in sight for 2026

Alexander Zverev tasted major glory for the first time in his career earlier this year at Roland Garros, where he downed Flavio Cobolli in the championship match to triumph in Paris.

Now, the German has the opportunity at the US Open to become just the fourth man in the Open Era (since 1968) to follow his first Slam title with his second in the same year.

Jannik Sinner captured his maiden major at the Australian Open in 2024 and backed that up by winning his second Slam in Flushing Meadows nine months later. Before that, you’d have to go back to the 1970s for when a player last achieved the feat of winning his first two majors in the same year.

In 1977, Guillermo Vilas won his first major at Roland Garros and second at the US Open – the same combination Zverev is attempting – while Jimmy Connors won his first three Slams in 1974: the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.

Zverev will want to improve, though, if he is going to lift his second Slam trophy in New York next Sunday. The top seed has battled to five-set wins against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys and has already spent nine hours and 26 minutes on court through his first two matches, which is the longest time any top seed has needed to reach the third round of a major since 1999.

Zverev holds a 30-10 record at the hard-court major overall, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, with his best result a final run in 2020, when he failed to serve out the match in the fifth set against Dominic Thiem. Zverev holds a 1-4 record in major finals overall, having recently fallen to Sinner in the Wimbledon championship match in July.

The No. 2 player in the PIF ATP Rankings meets Alejandro Tabilo in the third round on Saturday night and takes a 3-0 Lexus ATP Head2Head lead into the match.