Alexander Zverev finished off the US Open final and did not know it. After a serve winner on the last point, he drifted back behind the baseline as if waiting to return, until his coaches gestured that he had won. He said later he thought the score was 5-1.
The German top seed beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 on Sunday in Arthur Ashe Stadium for his second major, a few months after he took the French Open. It also settles an old debt. In 2020 Zverev led Dominic Thiem by two sets in the final and lost, the first man to blow that lead in a final since 1949.
A crowd against him
Shelton, the 23-year-old No. 8 seed, was in his first major final, chasing the first American men’s title since Andy Roddick in 2003 and the first by a Black man since Arthur Ashe in 1968. The stadium was with him all the way, Trinity Rodman among those cheering after rushing in from her own soccer match in Washington.
Zverev, seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam for the first time, broke early and Shelton never settled. Zverev won 43 of his first 48 first-serve points in the early going, while Shelton had not created a single break point by the end of the second set. In the tiebreak Shelton won no points on Zverev’s serve.
Then the third set. Shelton cleaned up his errors, held six times, and finally broke at the last game to take it 7-5. Zverev’s streak of continuous holds ended at 66. The Guardian’s live blog called it the best Shelton had played all match. But Zverev broke him again to open the fourth and again later, and the final went one way. He finished with nine aces, 35 winners and won 85% of his first-serve points.
The speeches
“I know today 99.9% of the people wanted Ben to win, so I’m very sorry,” Zverev told the crowd. “But second, it was an incredible atmosphere to play in.” Asked about the noise, he said he heard none of it: “I was in this kind of tunnel where I just didn’t hear anything.”
He turned emotional talking about his team and family. “We went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title, and then won two in the span of three months,” he said. He thanked his mother, who stood by him when he was diagnosed with diabetes at age four. “This illness will not define us.”
Zverev improved to 25-2 in major matches this year and collected $5.5 million, matching the record Grand Slam prize that Elena Rybakina earned the day before. He had reached the Wimbledon final too, losing to Jannik Sinner, and became top seed in New York when Sinner withdrew with a knee injury.
Shelton had knocked out No. 2 seed Carlos Alcaraz in a five-set quarterfinal that ended at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history. Against Zverev he fell to 0-6 and won a set for only the second time. “You’re one of the very best players in the world, maybe the best player in the world this year,” he told the champion. Zverev answered that Shelton will “win this tournament one day.” Shelton, speaking of his family in his box, said: “These four guys have dedicated their lives to my career.”
Sources
- Zverev crushes Shelton’s American dream to win US Open
- Alexander Zverev beats Ben Shelton to win the US Open title
- US Open 2026 men’s final: Alexander Zverev beats Ben Shelton in four sets to claim title – as it happened
