Flavio Cobolli admitted he never expected such kind of a result all his life after making it to his first Slam final at the Roland Garros. The Italian could not cross the last hurdle against Alexander Zverev as he suffered a five-set loss but he didn’t go down without a fight.

The Italian was totally dominated in the opening set, with the German winning it by 6-1. However, Cobolli made a strong comeback in the second set to achieve parity. Zverev took the third set and had a 3-1 lead in the fourth set tiebreaker with a serve in hand but Cobolli won it by 7-5, disturbing the German’s 90% record in tiebreakers at the French Open.

However, in the fifth set, Zverev lifted his level as he took it by 6-1 to win the first Major of his career. Eventually, Zverev registered a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 win.

“I want to say congrats to Sascha for this title,” Cobolli said in his post-match press conference. “I think he deserves it. I also think today he deserved it more than me at the end of the match.

“But I want to say also thanks to me for what I did in these two weeks. I never expected all my life this kind of result, and I’m so proud of myself. So now I just want to have a great smile and enjoy the night with friends, with the people that I love. It’s a final of Grand Slam, so I think in this room, no one expected a lot of me. So I have to be proud of myself and try and try and try again.”

The Italian said he wanted to give his absolute best in the fourth set tiebreaker with everything to play for. Zverev was also struggling with cramps, and Cobolli wanted to cash in on the opportunity.

“I just closed my eyes. Maybe [for] both [those points],” Cobolli said light-heartedly when asked about those moments. “I felt tired on the tie-break, but I also said to myself, ‘Go, go for it, and maybe go in and you win the set, and then let’s see what happens in the fifth’. But I just closed my eyes, I think. That sometimes helps.”

Cobolli would look to carry the good form in the grass season.