Zverev Didn't Realize He'd Won the US Open — Then Beat Shelton for His Second Major of the Year

Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(7/2), 5-7, 6-2 to win the US Open on Sunday, and he barely noticed the moment it happened. After firing an unreturnable serve at 40-15 in the eighth game of the fourth set, he simply turned to get ready for the next point — until he looked up at the scoreboard. "I've won?" he said, breaking into a smile before rushing the net to console Shelton.

It's Zverev's second Grand Slam title of the year, following his first at the French Open. That makes him only the fourth man in the Open era to win his first two major titles in the same season, joining Jimmy Connors (1974), Guillermo Vilas (1977), and Jannik Sinner (2024). "In that moment I was in the zone, a lot," Zverev said of the final set. "I was in this kind of tunnel where I just didn't hear anything."

Zverev knew exactly whose crowd he was in. "I know today 99.9% of the people wanted Ben to win, so I'm very sorry first of all," he said during the trophy ceremony. "But second, it was an incredible atmosphere to play in. Even though I know that the crowd was against me, the crowd was always incredibly fair." In his speech, he pointed to the broader German drought his win helped snap: "We went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title and now we won two in a span of three months," a reference to Boris Becker's 1996 Australian Open title.

Shelton, playing in his first Grand Slam final, was gracious in defeat: "Sascha, congrats on these two weeks. Your second Grand Slam, your second in a year. You are one of the best players in the world, maybe the best player in the world this year... You and your team do things the right way and I'm sincerely happy for you guys to hold this title."