Is Alexander Zverev about to win the easiest Grand Slam ever? The jaw‑dropping comparison

Alexander Zverev is closing in on what could be his first Grand Slam title at the 2026 French Open.

After several years of coming up short, this may finally be the moment he captures one of tennis’ biggest prizes.

But questions are already being asked about how much weight the win will carry. Zverev hasn’t faced the toughest path to the final in Paris, missing out on showdowns with some of the game’s top players.

Even if Zverev gets past Cobolli in the final, he won’t have faced a single top-10 player on his way to the title.

Alexander Zverev’s French Open win would be the fourth easiest of the last 50 Grand Slams

The average ranking of his opponents was 57. So how does that stack up against other recent Grand Slam runs? We looked at the last 50 men’s singles champions to see where this one might fit in.

To keep things fair, we focused on matches from the second round onwards to avoid skewing results with qualifiers and lucky losers. If Zverev lifts the trophy on Sunday, it will rank as the fourth easiest path to a major title in recent history.

The only ones that were statistically easier came from Rafael Nadal’s 2017 US Open and 2020 French Open wins, along with Stan Wawrinka’s run at the 2016 US Open. Nadal didn’t drop a set during his 2020 campaign, and looking at those numbers, it’s not hard to see why.

Zverev has also taken advantage of Carlos Alcaraz’s withdrawal and early exits for both Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic. Still, he won’t mind as long as he leaves Paris with the trophy.

Mark Woodforde gives his take on the 2026 French Open men’s final

During BBC Radio 5 Live’s coverage of the tournament, former Grand Slam doubles champion Mark Woodforde was asked if Zverev had done enough to impress him following his semi-final win: “Yes [I was convinced], that was such a bright display of tennis,” he said.

“I think there are indicators very early on in the tournament, as well; there’s been that spotlight placed upon Zverev, without having Alcaraz in the tournament. So it was a matter of being on the other half of the draw from Sinner, but we lost Sinner so early in the tournament. Djokovic went out relatively early. So he’s had to shoulder the responsibility since early on, and he has stepped up.

“We’ve seen these slight waivers, but they have been so minimal. He hasn’t allowed them to infiltrate his psyche for long periods of time, and this was only the second set of tennis that he has lost getting to the final of this year’s tournament, so really, really solid.”

Woodforde also spoke about Cobolli and what fans can expect from him heading into Sunday. “Flavio Cobolli, I think, does provide something,” he said. “He has that ability to play at a high level. It’s the way he holds himself on the court, but he has those lapses.”

“I think when you come into a Grand Slam final, if you have those lapses, we’ve seen it with Zverev, when he’s been in these finals previously… There is a possibility that Cobolli could play at an extremely high level, but I don’t know if he can maintain it for the five-set format.”

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