US Open: Alexander Zverev snuffs out Ben Shelton's bid for history to win second Grand Slam title

Jack BaerSun, September 13, 2026 at 5:00 PM UTC

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Alexander Zverev knew he was in the way of history at the 2026 US Open men's final. He didn't look too bothered.

Facing No. 8 seed Ben Shelton and an Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd rooting against him, Zverev navigated every challenge until he was celebrating a 6-3, 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 win. The wait will go on for the first American male Grand Slam title since 2003.

Incredibly, Zverev didn't even seem to know the match was over when Shelton's final return of serve went long.

It is the second Grand Slam title of Zverev's career, which looked like it would be defined by a lack of such titles entering 2026. Zverev's place in history seemed clear at that point, a great player who could never get through historical greats like Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner when it mattered most.

We're not sure that's changed much. Zverev wound up going 25-2 in Grand Slams this year, winning Roland-Garros and the US Open. His two losses: Alcaraz in the Australian Open semifinals, Sinner in the Wimbledon final.

Zverev has methodically handled all other players. In retrospect, his two biggest challenges were his first two matches of the tournament against Lorenzo Sonego and Quentin Halys, when he became the first No. 1 seed at a major to get taken to a fifth set in both the first and second rounds.

Zverev didn't drop a set after those two matches until the final, as the field opened up for him like it did at Roland-Garros. In Shelton, he got an opponent he had little trouble against in the past, with a 5-0 head-to-head record.

Ben Shelton looked different at the US Open, until he faced Alexander Zverev

As the head-to-head record implied, there were some clear hurdles for Shelton in this match.

Zverev's game is built to limit Shelton's biggest strength and exploit his biggest weakness. Like many left-handed players, Shelton's forehand usually goes right into Zverev's backhand, which is one of the most lethal on tour. And Shelton has never been a good returner, which is a problem when Zverev is averaging 133 mph with his first serve.

There was reason for hope with Shelton, though, as he seemed to be returning serve better than ever recently while showcasing a more developed toolkit. He reversed a similar 0-3 record in his five-set epic against Alcaraz in the quarterfinal.

However, that hope wilted quickly once he was in front of Zverev, who broke Shelton to open the match. Shelton, perhaps hit with nerves, gave Zverev that break with a game-ending double-fault, then did the same thing to close a weak first set.

Meanwhile, Shelton just couldn't do much against Zverev's serve. He didn't get a break point until the third set, part of a string of 66 consecutive service holds from Zverev against him. As good as Shelton's serve was, it didn't seem to matter after Zverev took the second set on a 7-2 tiebreaker.

Zverev has quite infamously blown a two-set lead in the US Open final before, in his infamous collapse against Dominic Thiem. A repeat looked possible when Shelton finally got his break to steal the third set.

However, once again, Shelton blinked to open the fourth set. He was up 30-love, then a double fault and a pair of unforced errors opened the door for Zverev to get the decisive break. He added another for good measure later, taking so much drama out of the remaining proceedings, to the point Zverev didn't know when the match was over.

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Ironically, Zverev won by going away from so much of what has made him a better player this year. His biggest weakness has always been growing passive and waiting too long for his opponent to just make a mistake. It rarely works against Alcaraz and Sinner, so he seemed to make a point of moving up more and trying to push opponents with a sometimes-iffy forehand.

That forehand worked just fine for him today, handling the inside-out forehands that Shelton loves, but overall Zverev just waited Shelton out on nearly every rally. Shelton committed 47 unforced errors to Zverev's 35.

As Zverev told ESPN after the match:

"Against Ben, you don't need to be aggressive all the time. The more pace you play to his backhand the better he plays. I think that's the mistake Carlos and maybe Frances [Tiafoe] made."

The American Grand Slam drought continues

Zverev's triumph is Shelton's fall, continuing a 23-year drought for the American men that goes back to Andy Roddick's US Open title in 2003.

The past two decades haven't been a golden age for American tennis on the men's side, to put it lightly. Shelton represented the country's best chance to end the streak since Roddick's retirement in 2012.

No one wants that run to end more than Roddick. As you can see from his "Served" podcast last year:

"One, at this point I hate talking about it. Two, I hate that other players have to talk about it. Three, I hate that, like, [John McEnroe] has to talk about it. For f***'s sake, he won a lot. I won one. It just happened to be the last one. … I just need to say, and I get asked about it all the time. I'm not the '72 Dolphins. I don't pop Champagne when the perfect season is gone. I want this so much, probably more than anyone outside the people who are going to end up winning it. And also the thing that never gets said, which to me is lazy: I was a f***ing part of it for 10 years, the streak, and I didn't win again. I could have won in '09 and it would be a lot less dramatic."

At only 23 years old, Shelton still appears to be the country's best hope moving forward. Zverev himself said he would bet money on him winning the trophy at some point in his career.

Meanwhile, the American women have won 23 Grand Slam titles in that same span.

What do we make of Alexander Zverev's 2 Grand Slam titles?

Zverev is now a two-time Grand Slam winner. That is a factual statement.

There will be detractors for what Zverev has accomplished this year, because a bad health year for both Sinner and Alcaraz meant he didn't have to face his usual tormentors in his two titles. In fact, he didn't have to face much of anyone.

Zverev reached the finals in Paris and New York without having to face a single player with a seed higher than No. 21. His Roland-Garros semifinal opponent was the young No. 26 seed Jakub Mensik. His US Open semifinal opponent was the unseeded Karen Khachanov.

Shelton and Roland-Garros finalist Flavio Cobolli are both at least top-10 players. Shelton, in fact, will go from ninth in the world before this tournament to No. 4 by reaching the final.

Tennis is ultimately about beating the player in front of you. There's no denying Zverev did that, though this is something that's going to be talked about plenty the next time he faces Alcaraz or Sinner in a Grand Slam.

With this conversation, there's also no avoiding that Zverev has never been the most popular player on tour, between his numerous on-court disputes and accusations of domestic abuse from two ex-girlfriends. He has denied all wrongdoing with the latter, though he reached an out-of-court settlement with one of them in 2024.

Follow along with Yahoo Sports for the latest highlights, news and more as Ben Shelton and Alexander Zverev face off in the 2026 US Open men's singles final.

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Source: “AOL Sports”