NEW YORK — Alexander Zverev knew what he was up against, playing a U.S. Open final in a stadium full of people desperate to at last see another American champion.
The 29-year-old German tuned out the screams for Ben Shelton for so long that he didn’t even realize when he won, with Zverev not hearing the chair umpire’s announcement that the match was over.
“In that moment I was in the zone a lot,” Zverev said. “I didn’t hear noise at all. I was in this kind of tunnel where I just didn’t hear anything.”
Zverev used that focus to win a second major championship and prevent a first Grand Slam singles title by an American man since 2003, beating Shelton 6-3, 7-6 (2), 5-7, 6-2 on Sunday afternoon in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Zverev finally broke through in the majors by winning this year’s French Open on the red clay of Roland Garros and followed up by adding the hard-court title in New York that he so painfully let slip away in 2020.