PREVIEW | Zverev vs. Cobolli Roland Garros 2026 Final | Monday Match Analysis

**Gill Gross** (0:02)
Welcome, everyone, to this special edition of Monday Match Analysis. I'm Gill Gross, and it is time for a preview of the 2026 Roland Garros Men's Final, Alexander Zverev versus Flavio Cobolli. First, we'll talk about today's semi-final results. Unfortunately, only one match to discuss. Of course, Matteo Arnaldi very sadly having to withdraw from the day's second semi-final. We'll talk about it. That was a bummer. Other than that, I'm in a very good mood. Mostly because my Knicks just took a 2-0 series lead in the NBA finals. That's definitely the main reason. But also, I'm fired up for the next couple of days of Roland Garros. Of course, wrapping things up with the finals. And I also just read the comments on my last show. A lot of nice ones. So I want to say thank you for that. This is always such an important time to grow the channel during a major. So every like, every comment, making sure you're subscribed. All of that is such a huge help and very much appreciated. Let's talk about Alexander Zverev's 4-set win over Jakup Mensik as he advances to his fourth career major final and looks, of course, for that first career title at this level. I think I want to start by giving Zverev some credit in general for the nerve management since learning of Yannick Sinner's exit in Carlos Alcaraz's absence, Novak Djokovic's relatively quick exit. He becomes the only guy with pedigree essentially remaining in the field. It is a high-pressure situation, and I think Zverev deserves some props for maintaining a high level of tennis and taking care of his business, even though I fully acknowledge that had Zverev, lost any of these matches, it would have been, at risk of some hyperbole, an unmitigated disaster. Any loss that Zverev took would have been a catastrophic loss. But catastrophes happen sometimes. Serena Williams was going for a career Grand Slam, and she got to play Roberta Vinci in the US Open Semifinals, and she took a disastrous loss. So it happens, and Zverev deserves some credit for not allowing it to happen. With that said, it should be known, it should be understood, that if Zverev doesn't win one more tennis match, that will all be swiftly forgotten. This is a very binary situation for Zverev. He's either going to win, or he's going to lose. Nobody's given him any credit in hindsight for making the final. It's all about what happens on Sunday. Of course, we're going to talk about it. But I do think, I mean, as we transition into the analysis of Zverev versus Mensik, the shot where you can usually tell whether or not Zverev is nervous or confident, if he has conviction or if he has fear, is the forehand. And I think it's worth saying that Zverev's forehand was way more deadly than Mensik's in this match. Zverev's ability to create ball speed, to create penetration was far superior to Mensik's. Ground stroke forehand winners, according to the Roland Garros stats, which are quirky and I don't fully trust them, but it was 12 to 1 The broadcast said that Mensik only hit four winners on the forehand all match. I'm not sure if that includes drop shots or not. Not sure.
But I am sure that Mensik looked pretty underpowered against Zverev's speed and his defense.
And I want to start by highlighting a couple of key points where that was the case. I think everybody who watched the match, especially in hindsight, that first set was really important. Mensik had a bit of a physicality issue. We'll talk more about that. He needed the first set. And he had a chance to go up the early break. And it actually wasn't that early. It was 3-4. So it was midway through the set. And Mensik had a couple of break points. The first one was well saved with a big serve by Zverev. 30-40, Mensik got himself in a rally. And they went forehand to forehand. And it was Zverev who was the first player to hit a bad trade. It was central. It was short. It was slow. It was a green light ball. You got to attack it. And Mensik replied with a comfy rally ball forehand inside it. He did run around to get the forehand. He just didn't do anything with it. Zverev off of that ball dragged Mensik wide with a forehand cross court and then forced an error with a forehand down the line into open court. It's a missed chance for Mensik to take a big cut on the forehand, but he did get another break point in the game at add out. And Mensik played a hard return up the middle.