Zverev beats Shelton in four sets for his first US Open title

Alexander Zverev beat Ben Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 in the US Open men's final on 13 September at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It is Zverev's first title in New York and his second Grand Slam of 2026, after the French Open. He is 29. The winner's cheque is 5.5 million dollars. On-court prize money for the year now puts him ahead of Jannik Sinner, 14.72 million dollars to 11.62 million, on Sportico's tally of 2026 earnings.

Shelton, seeded eighth, was trying to become the first American man to win a major since Andy Roddick at this same tournament in 2003, and the first Black American man to win one since Arthur Ashe in 1968. The New York crowd was with him. Zverev opened his speech with an apology. "I know 99 percent of the people wanted Ben to win, so I'm sorry, but it was an incredible atmosphere to play in."

The match followed a pattern Zverev has used all year. He took the first set on serve and return discipline. He won the second-set tiebreak 7-2. Shelton and Zverev had played four previous tiebreak sets against each other. Shelton had won none of them. The third set went to Shelton 7-5 and the building rose. Zverev reset, dropped only four points on serve in the fourth set, and finished on an unreturned serve. He later said he did not immediately realise the match was over.

In the ceremony he turned to his team. "We went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam and now we won two in the span of three months. I think God has seen how hard we worked, how much we suffered, how much pain we went through, and I think 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before." He also reached the Wimbledon final in July and lost. That runner-up cheque was 2.4 million dollars.

Zverev was the top seed here for the first time at a Slam. He remains world number 2 behind Sinner. The ranking will not jump on Monday. The gap in the race will. German men's tennis had gone three decades without a major until this clay-and-hard-court stretch. Two titles in three months change how draw sheets treat him in Melbourne.

Shelton leaves with a first major final and with the same drought for American men that he was asked to end. Roddick's 2003 win is now 23 years old. The serving power that carried Shelton through the second week was not enough to take a tiebreak off Zverev or to hold the fourth-set surge. The crowd noise did not change the first-serve numbers that closed the match.

The tennis calendar now turns to the indoor swing and the Davis Cup weeks. Zverev's 2026 file already holds Roland Garros, a Wimbledon final and the US Open. That is the season he said the previous years of pain were for.

Zverev's 2020 US Open final is the wound this title closes. He had the match in New York six years ago and left without the cup. Sunday's fourth set was the opposite of that night: few points dropped on serve, one clean closer, no extra drama after Shelton's third-set break. He said he did not see the championship point for what it was. The serve that ended it was enough.

Sinner still sits at number 1. Zverev's 2026 majors, two titles and one final, are the best season of his career by the only measure that lasts on a player page. Shelton's page now has a Slam final and a 23-year American drought still attached. Ashe Stadium will host other finals. This one will be filed as the night a German number 1 seed beat the home player in four sets and told the crowd he was sorry they had not got the ending they wanted.