Alexander Zverev has been told he has now been given a ‘golden opportunity’ after Jannik Sinner’s shock defeat at Roland Garros.
Zverev is often considered one of the best players not to win a major, having lost his three previous Grand Slam finals.
The German was coming into Roland Garros this year as the second seed, but Zverev had lost his last nine matches against Sinner, including a crushing loss in the final of the Madrid Open.
Following Sinner’s shocking defeat in the second round of Roland Garros, Zverev now may have his best chance yet to become a Grand Slam champion, but Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert has given him a warning about what could happen if he fails to capitalise.
Brad Gilbert claims Alexander Zverev may ‘never recover’ if he doesn’t win Roland Garros
Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have won the last nine consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, but that streak is now confirmed to come to an end.
This leaves Zverev as the top seed in the draw, with Gilbert claiming that he will never get a chance like this ever again.
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Gilbert also spoke about the possibility of Zverev not winning the title at Roland Garros, stating that he may never get over it if he does not take advantage of the opportunity ahead of him.
“I’ll just say this right now, this is the opportunity for Zverev that he will never get again,” Gilbert said on The Big T Podcast.
“If he could somehow manage to win this, it could alter and change him, maybe all of a sudden take another high note. If he doesn’t come through, I think it will be a gut punch that maybe he never recovers from.
“Because now all of a sudden, he had that one chance against [Dominic] Thiem, every time after that he’s got to beat a couple of these guys. Now the only one you can say that he has to is [Novak] Djokovic.”
Zverev has been in three Grand Slam finals before, and even served for the title in the final of the 2020 US Open against Dominic Thiem.
| Grand Slams where Alexander Zverev reached the final | Result |
| US Open 2020 | Dominic Thiem beat Zverev, 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6(6) |
| Roland Garros 2024 | Carlos Alcaraz beat Zverev, 6-3 2-6 5-7 6-1 6-2 |
| Australian Open 2025 | Jannik Sinner beat Zverev, 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 |
Andrea Petkovic highlights the improvement Alexander Zverev has made this year
Although Zverev now is under a lot of pressure at Roland Garros this year, his compatriot Andrea Petkovic believes he has made a big improvement in terms of his maturity this year, as Gilbert also highlighted how fit he seems at the moment.
“I did think he showed a little maturity this year compared to last year,” said Petkovic.
“For those who don’t remember, Jannik Sinner got banned, he was out for three months and Alexander Zverev had a chance all of a sudden to ascend to the number one ranking and he went to play the Golden Swing to make that happen and lost everywhere in the first and second rounds.
“Now that Carlos Alcaraz went out, he did make the final in Madrid, he did play okay in Rome, he did blow four match points against Darderi.”
Gilbert responded, “You know the best thing about Zverev, he looks fit as a fiddle.”
Petkovic added, “He looks a lot more mature than last year and maybe this is his year to use a golden opportunity, because this is a golden opportunity.”
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Zverev will play his first match since Sinner’s exit from Roland Garros against Quentin Halys in the night session on Friday, May 29.
This will be the second time they have played each other, with Zverev beating Halys in two tie-break sets in Miami earlier this year.
