Alexander Zverev will meet Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final on Sunday.
For the first time in their respective careers, Zverev or Cobolli will be crowned a Grand Slam champion.
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The Coupe des Mousquetaires will be handed to the winner by the 1976 champion, Adriano Panatta.
Adriano Panatta was the last Italian to win the French Open men’s singles title 50 years ago
Half a century ago, Panatta travelled to Paris with one thing on his mind: winning the French Open.
The Italian had enjoyed success at the event since making his debut in 1969, but had never been past the semi-finals.
Adriano Panatta’s Grand Slam performance timeline (before 1976)
| Grand Slam | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 |
| Australian Open | 1R | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| French Open | 1R | 4R | 3R | QF | SF | 2R | SF |
| Wimbledon | Q1 | 1R | 3R | 3R | – | 3R | 3R |
| US Open | – | – | – | 1R | 3R | – | – |
Determined to go all the way, Panatta, the eighth seed, refused to be beaten, even when pushed to his limits.
He didn’t have an easy start to his French Open campaign, taking on Czechoslovakia’s Pavel Hut’ka in the first round.
Hut’ka took the first set 6-2 before Panatta fought back, taking the next two sets by the same scoreline.
Then, another dominant set for the Czech (6-0) forced a deciding fifth set.
Panatta eventually emerged victorious, winning the decider 12-10, scraping through to round two.
Luckily for the Italian, he didn’t have much trouble in his next two matches, defeating Japan’s Jun Kuki and Czechoslovakia’s Jiri Hrebec in straight sets.
A four-set win over Zeljko Franulovic followed, as Panatta set up a mouth-watering quarter-final tie with Bjorn Borg.
The Swede had won the two previous editions of the French Open and was the number one seed in 1976.
Few gave Panatta a chance, but he quickly took a two-set lead, 6-3, 6-3.
Borg attempted a comeback, winning the third set 6-2, although his efforts were in vain.
Panatta won a fourth-set tiebreaker to seal the upset, booking his place in the semi-finals.
There, he dominated American player Eddie Dibbs to advance to his first career Grand Slam final.
Taking on another American in the final, Panatta won the first two sets against Harold Solomon to move within touching distance of the title.
Solomon won the third set, but Panatta was unfazed, taking the fourth 7-6, to win the 1976 French Open.
Adriano Panatta’s route to the 1976 French Open title
- 1R [WIN] vs Pavel Hut’ka (Czechoslovakia), 2-6, 6-2, 6-2, 0-6, 12-10
- 2R [WIN] vs Jun Kuki (Japan), 6-3, 6-1, 7-5
- 3R [WIN] vs Jiri Hrebec (Czechoslovakia), 7-5, 6-3, 6-4
- 4R [WIN] vs Zeljko Franulovic (Yugoslavia), 6-2, 6-2, 6-7, 6-3
- QF [WIN] vs Bjorn Borg (Sweden), 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6
- SF [WIN] vs Eddie Dibbs (USA), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4
- F [WIN] vs Harold Solomon (USA), 6-1, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6
Panatta never won another Grand Slam title, but remains a legend of Italian tennis.
He remained the last Italian man to win a Grand Slam singles title until Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open in 2024.
Panatta expected to hand Sinner the trophy in Paris this year, just as he did in Rome, but that wasn’t to be.
Sinner was stunned by Juan Manuel Cerundolo in the second round.
Still, Panatta could give the trophy to another Italian: Cobolli.
As reported by ‘La Gazzetta dello Sport‘, Panatta said the following earlier this week.
“It’s a privilege to still feel such a strong connection with Roland Garros, which is very special to me. And besides, I said after Jannik’s elimination that there were other Italians with what it takes to do very well. Now I hope so,” he said (translated from Italian).
“And if it were a Roman… history would repeat itself.”
How close have Italian men been to winning Roland Garros since Adriano Panatta’s 1976 title?
No Italian man had returned to the French Open final until Sinner took on Carlos Alcaraz 12 months ago.
There, he came as close as possible to lifting the title without doing so.
Sinner had three championship points against Alcaraz, but let the lead slip, as he fell to defeat in one of the greatest five-set matches of all time.
2026 was supposed to be Sinner’s redemption, especially with Alcaraz missing the event due to injury, but he will have to wait another year.
Where does Jannik Sinner’s defeat to Juan Manuel Cerundolo rank among the most shocking results in tennis history?
Can Cobolli lift the trophy for Italy in his absence? Only time will tell.
Cobolli will play Zverev in the French Open men’s singles final on Sunday, June 7.
