NEW YORK, Sept 13 (Reuters) – Factbox on Alexander Zverev, who beat American eighth seed Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2 in the U.S. Open final on Sunday to win his second Grand Slam title:
Age: 29
Nation: Germany
ATP Ranking: 2
Seeding: 1
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2026, U.S. Open 2026)
EARLY LIFE
* Born in Hamburg and began playing tennis at the age of five.
CAREER TO DATE
* A former world number one junior, he began competing on the International Tennis Federation junior circuit at the age of 13.
* Made his ATP Tour main-draw debut at the German Open in 2013 and won his first junior Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 2014.
* Won his first ATP title at the St Petersburg Open in 2016 after breaking into the top 30.
* Claimed his first Masters title in Rome in 2017 and followed it up with victory at the Canadian Open, finishing the year ranked fourth in the world.
* Beat world number one Novak Djokovic to win the ATP Finals in 2018.
* Reached the Australian Open semi-finals in 2020 before advancing to his first Grand Slam final at the U.S. Open, where he lost to Dominic Thiem despite leading by two sets.
* Won gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and reached the semi-finals of the French Open and U.S. Open before claiming a second ATP Finals title.
* Was forced to retire from his 2022 French Open semi-final against Rafa Nadal after tearing ankle ligaments. He was sidelined for several months after undergoing surgery.
* Returned in 2023 and reached the French Open semi-finals for a third consecutive year.
* Advanced to his second Grand Slam final at the 2024 French Open but lost to Carlos Alcaraz in five sets.
* Reached the final of the 2025 Australian Open, where he was beaten by defending champion Jannik Sinner in straight sets.
* Made the semi-finals of the 2026 Australian Open before losing to Alcaraz in five sets.
* Beat Flavio Cobolli in five sets in the French Open final to win his first Grand Slam title and become Germany’s first men’s major champion since Boris Becker won the 1996 Australian Open.
* Arrived at the 2026 U.S. Open as the top seed following the withdrawal of world number one Jannik Sinner due to a persistent knee injury. After a shaky start that featured five-set matches in each of the opening two rounds, Zverev found his rhythm and went on to claim his second Grand Slam title.
(Compiled by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru;)
