Key events
“It’s amazing how Jakub’s played the last two weeks, he’s beaten some great players, I knew it would be my toughest challenge so far,” Zverev says. “I managed; I won; I’m happy.” He’s then asked what was going through his head. “Nothing. To be honest, we’re athletes, we don’t have much going on in our heads, we’re stupid,” he jokes. Self-deprecating, but that was a fine performance from Zverev, who showed signs of cracking in the third set, but got himself over the line and into his fourth grand slam final. It was a case of fourth time lucky for Andre Agassi, who was watching on today; Zverev will be hoping it’s the same for him. He knows he’ll be the overwhelming favourite on Sunday against Flavio Cobolli or Matteo Arnaldi – who’ll be on court in about an hour’s time – and today was more proof that he’s relishing this chance of a lifetime, rather than being crushed by the pressure.
Zverev defeats Mensik 7-5, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3!
So this is the moment. A perfect first point as Zverev serves out wide before stepping into the court to send a backhand volley into the other corner. One down, three to go. Two to go, courtesy of one of Zverev’s fastest serves of the match. Zverev then runs around his forehand to hit his favoured backhand but misses; that’s a sign he’s feeling the strain. But his trusty serve takes him to 40-15, two match points, and Zverev finishes Mensik off from there! After this fortnight of chaos, the highest-ranked man left standing is into the final, his second at the French Open, and he’s a win away from finally doing what was expected of him for many years before he ran into a Sinner and Alcaraz-shaped wall. His celebrations are muted; he knows the job is not yet done.
Fourth set: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 3-5 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
A roll of his injured neck as Mensik prepares to serve, possibly for the final time. Zverev seizes the opening point for 0-15; he tries a drop-shot/lob combo on the second, but his execution isn’t good enough, and Mensik gratefully crashes away the smash. 15-all. Another poor shot from Zverev, a sliced forehand which lands in no man’s land, is punished by Mensik and it’s 30-15. And swiftly game.
Fourth set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 2-5 Zverev (*denotes next server)
15-0, 30-0, 40-0. Zverev will be grateful for the short, sharp points here; he just wants to get this done. And it nearly is. Jeu Zverev. Mensik must hold serve to keep this semi-final going any longer.
Fourth set: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 2-4 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev is hit by a time violation for keeping Mensik waiting at the start of the game. Zverev attempts to take his frustrations out on the ball, but his attempted inside-out forehand whistles wide. Jim Courier likes the fact that Zverev is still going for his shots though, rather than waiting for Mensik to miss; Zverev has been known to go into his shell on some of the biggest occasions in grand slams gone by. Zverev pushes Mensik to deuce but can’t cause any further damage.
Fourth set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 1-4 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Mensik catches Zverev out, courtesy of a lucky net cord, for 0-15. “LET’S GO JAKUB, LET’S GO,” chant his fans. But Mensik doesn’t get going at all, with Zverev turning 0-15 into 40-15, and a snarling serve down the T puts him two games from the final, as the match clock hits two hours and 45 minutes.
Fourth set: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 1-3 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
At 15-all, Mensik’s serve lands bang on the line and bounces awkwardly for Zverev, who balloons a return back, and Mensik is caught off-guard. It has echoes of Zverev’s return two games ago. So it’s 15-30, and then 30-40, after Zverev sends Mensik right and left and right and left and right and left, before forcing the error from Mensik’s backhand. Mensik takes matters into his own hands by coming to the net to save the break point, and repels a second after three deuces, and goes on to gamely hold!
Fourth set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 0-3 Zverev (*denotes next server)
A big point at 30-all, so Zverev bounces the ball a little more, before smacking down a serve and going on to win the rally. 40-30. Mensik’s ball is called out and Zverev is on his way to the chair, even though the umpire James Keothavong has got out of his to check the mark (in this age of AI there’s something so refreshing about this old-school approach), and Keothavong tells Zverev the ball was in fact in. They’ll replay the point. And Zverev, impressively given his third-set jitters, regathers himself to hold.
Zverev breaks: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 6-3, 0-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Set four gets under way with Zverev holding to 15, before the second seed takes the Mensik serve to deuce. Mensik should be feeling energised after grabbing the third set but he dumps tiredly into the net and Zverev has a break point at advantage. Mensik misses his first serve … lands the second … Zverev’s return is mis-hit and lands on the sideline and while it has little pace, it bamboozles Mensik, who sends his backhand beyond the baseline! Zverev strikes first in the fourth set and ‘all’ he has to do is hold serve from here on in and he’s into the final. If only it were that easy …
Mensik wins the third set 6-3!
A big smile from Mensik as he advances to 30-0. His 4,567th drop shot of the day makes it 40-0. Three set points for the 20-year-old. He goes for the one-two punch – Zverev holds firm – the pair go at each other and at each other some more and after 17 shots of back and forth, Mensik dupes Zverev with another drop shot! That medical timeout has worked a treat and the combination of his powerful serve combined with the delicate touch of all those drops has got Mensik back into this semi-final. Along with Zverev tightening a little midway through the set. Perhaps the scar tissue from previous slams is still itching.
Third set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 5-3 Zverev (*denotes next server)
We’ve seen wobble Zverev before, most memorably from two sets to one up against Carlos Alcaraz in the 2024 French Open final and from two sets to love up against Dominic Thiem in the 2020 US Open final, but he does, at least, force Mensik to serve out the third set here, with a no-fuss hold to love.
Third set: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 5-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
A standing ovation for Mensik as Zverev’s lob goes long and Mensik holds to 15 to back up the break! Well, well. After all the craziness and chaos of this most unpredictable of French Opens, with Jannik Sinner losing from two sets and 5-1 up, and Aryna Sabalenka blowing a commanding lead too, could we be about to see another unlikely comeback?
Mensik breaks: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 4-2 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev, having regained his composure, then goes a little chuntery again, as a flurry of unforced errors help Mensik hold to love. Zverev’s already doubled his unforced error count from the second set, which was just four. A measure of how high his level was. Another forehand error allows Mensik a sniff at 30-all on Zverev’s serve … Mensik drop shots … Zverev replies … and an angled volley from Mensik creates a break point! The first Mensik has had since the opening set. Another drop shot follows – this one better than the first – and Zverev can’t get to it! Mensik has his first break of this semi-final and it’s game on in the third set.
Third set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 2-2 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Mensik leaves the court for some treatment. The trainer was working on his neck before they departed, so that’s what the problem seems to be. And that would perhaps explain some of the double faults. Zverev is pacing around the baseline, waiting for his opponent to return. I wonder what’s going through his mind. Is he still feeling liberated by this chance of a lifetime, or will the enormity of what he’s trying to achieve start to weigh him down? There’s no sign of any pressure as Zverev skips to 30-0 when Mensik reappears, and then 40-0. Zverev overcooks a backhand for 40-15 and a disputed line call goes against him for 40-30. There’s a brief appeal to the umpire, but Zverev quickly refocuses to close out the game.
Third set: Mensik 5-7, 2-6, 2-1 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Mensik, at the moment, doesn’t look as if he thinks he’s got another three sets in him. He’s talking to the umpire between points at 15-all, I think the trainer may be coming on after this game. But it could be too late to save him, because Zverev has a makeable winner at 15-30 … but misses! A big reprieve for Mensik. 30-all. 40-30. And the Czech gratefully holds with a forehand winner.
Third set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-6, 1-1 Zverev (*denotes next server)
The crowd, perhaps wanting Zverev to finally get over the grand slam line, were more with the German in the early stages, but now they’re siding with the underdog, and they cheer the Czech loudly as Mensik emerges victorious in an entertaining second point. From there Mensik opens the third set with a hold to 15, before Zverev responds with one of his own.
Zverev wins the second set 6-2
15-0, 30-0, 40-0, game and set Zverev. He’s a set away from the final and, with that huge Sinner and Alcaraz-shaped hole in the draw, he’s more than rising to the occasion.
Zverev breaks: Mensik 5-7, 2-5 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev has the chance for a double break when his winner, which shouldn’t really have been a winner given it seemed Mensik could get to the ball, brings up 15-40. Mensik charges to the net to save the first break point – he’s desperately trying to shorten the rallies here, I think fatigue is coming into play – but he disappointingly double faults on the second. Ach. All of the tennis the 20-year-old’s played to get to this point – including two five-setters, one of which led to him collapsing with cramps in the heat of the first week and being helped to the locker room in a wheelchair – is perhaps catching up with him in the biggest match of his career, and he’s on the brink of sliding two sets down.
Second set: Mensik* 5-7, 2-4 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Mensik, his face still betraying no emotion, holds to love. That’ll have felt good. But Zverev’s response won’t, as he sees Mensik’s love hold and matches it. The all-Italian affair between Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi is coming up after this, with the match getting under way not before 7pm Paris time (6pm BST). At this rate Zverev will have showered, done his press and had some dinner by the time it begins.
Second set: Mensik* 5-7, 1-3 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Jim Courier, on the TNT Sports commentary, lists the other male players, along with Zverev, who lost their first three slam finals: Lendl, Agassi, Ivanisevic, Murray, Thiem and Ruud. Of those, Zverev and Ruud are still searching for that breakthrough. But Zverev’s looking in the form to change that as he backs up the break, from deuce. At the moment he’s in full control of this semi-final.
Zverev breaks: Mensik 5-7, 1-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev has Mensik on the ropes at 15-40. Mensik decides to deal with the break points just as he did in the first set, with a drop shot. This one appears to be more successful, as he gets back Zverev’s reply, but the problem is he becomes a sitting target at the net in the process, and Zverev zaps the ball back, and Mensik, with hardly any time to respond, can only frame the ball well wide! Zverev is roaring and at the moment he’s soaring into the final. Mensik, stoically, looks rather emotionless.
Second set: Mensik* 5-7, 1-1 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev has still dropped only one set this tournament, and he did to Mensik in that first set what he did to the new Rafa on the block, Rafael Jodar, in the quarter-finals, coming out on top in the big moments. Speaking of which … last night I watched the Rafa documentary on Netflix, in which he reveals the extent of the chronic pain he was dealing with during his career. It got me thinking: has there ever been a sportsperson so willing to suffer for success, who’s fought so hard against their body while achieving so much? It’s astonishing he was able to win 14 French Open titles (it still seems ridiculous writing that number, even four years on from his last title in Paris) while playing in such pain for 13 of those. But anyway, I digress. A hold apiece from Mensik and Zverev, and this second set gets going with two holds.
Zverev wins the first set 7-5!
15-0, 30-0, 40-0. Three set points. Mensik provides some resistance, taking the next two points, but it ultimately proves to be futile, as Zverev seals the set from 40-30 with an ace down the T. A smart set from Zverev, who waited patiently for his chance, and seized it when it came.
Zverev breaks: Mensik 5-6 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Mensik is wavering, and a couple of double faults get Zverev to 30-all. A huge point. Will it be break point – which if Zverev wins it, will leave him serving for the set – or game point? It’s break point, a first of the match for Zverev, as he batters a backhand winner that leaves Mensik rooted to the spot, looking as if he has feet of clay. Mensik decides this break point calls for a drop shot, of which he’s hit so many throughout this set, but Zverev is smart to it, zooms forward, whips the ball over … and Mensik nets!
First set: Mensik* 5-5 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Certainly not immediately, as Mensik secures a love hold, his first of this semi-final, which leaves Zverev serving to stay in the opening set. Which the second seed does with relative ease, landing a couple of aces, but he’s not looking quite as sharp from the baseline as he was a few games ago, it has to be said.
First set: Mensik* 4-4 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev is serving with the new balls, but slides 15-30 down. He appears to be dealing with the slight scoreboard pressure, bossing the point, moving forward, dispatching a nice angled volley … but Mensik, improbably, pulls off a backhand pass down the line! Agassi and his son Jaden, who’s a baseball player having decided at a young age that tennis wasn’t for him (the idea of trying to emulate his dad’s success, along with his mum Steffi Graf’s, probably wasn’t too appealing), are applauding. It’s 15-40 and here are the first break points of the match, and for all the of the pressure Zverev has had on Mensik’s serve, these BPs are for Mensik. A good serve out wide, followed by a big forehand, and Zverev saves them both, before fending off a third too and holding! A big opportunity missed by Mensik – will that come back to haunt him?
First set: Mensik 4-3 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
For Zverev, remember, this is an 11th grand slam semi-final and a fifth at Roland Garros; for Mensik this is a first. Zverev, who lost in the 2024 final having been two sets to one up against Carlos Alcaraz, in one of three major final defeats he’s endured, is pummelling Mensik’s backhand at 30-15, and it eventually breaks down under the pressure. 30-all. But a short, sharp point gets Mensik to 40-30. And he holds for his most comfortable service game so far.
First set: Mensik* 3-3 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Gasps as a dodgy bounce on the baseline catches Zverev unawares on the second point. But that’s as good as it gets for Mensik, who can’t make any further inroads on Zverev’s serve from 15-all. Zverev looks so calm is thinking very clearly out there; he’ll now hope he can convert all the pressure he’s had on Mensik’s serve into a break.
First set: Mensik 3-2 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev cracks another winner for 0-15, as Agassi, the 1999 champion, looks on approvingly. And Mensik coughs up his first double fault. 0-30. The Czech makes amends with an ace, and then a drop shot winner – already his seventh drop shot of the semi-final – restores parity at 30-all. Which develops into deuce, the third time Mensik has been taken this far on serve, and once again he slams the door on Zverev.
First set: Mensik* 2-2 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Pacy and punchy from Zverev on his backhand – which is one of the very best in the business – and it’s 30-0. Make that 40-0, with a textbook one-two attack. Now it’s his forehand that does the damage, as he rifles away a winner. The first love hold of this semi-final and Zverev is in the zone.
First set: Mensik 2-1 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Zverev has been criticised in the past for playing too defensively in the biggest moments on the biggest stages, but he’s crunching the ball here and advances to 0-30 on Mensik’s serve. Mensik, with such soft hands for a man of his size, comes straight back with the next two points, and shows delicate touch at the net to bring up 40-30. For the third game in a row, they go to deuce, and Mensik’s cute drop shot brings up his advantage. And after a second deuce he holds.
First set: Mensik* 1-1 Zverev (*denotes next server)
Zverev looked slightly hesitant in the warm-up but the world No 3 shows great reflexes at the net to move 30-15 ahead. Mensik, wearing a white shirt and headband, black shorts, dumps a drop shot into the net as Zverev, clad all in black, extends his lead 40-15. But Mensik marmalises a backhand winner down the line and it’s deuce. Just as Mensik did at this stage in the previous game, Zverev steps it up, and takes the game with a nonchalant volley.
First set: Mensik 1-0 Zverev* (*denotes next server)
Talking of Mensik playing better against better players, he defeated Djokovic in three sets to win the Miami Open last year, his biggest title to date, and he also saw off Sinner in Doha this year. “I think Jakub is a player that was born for these types of matches, against big players in big stadiums,” his coach Tomas Josefus said in the build-up to this semi-final. And Mensik looks keen to prove the point as he glides to 40-15 on serve in the opening game … before stuttering as he’s pulled back to deuce … but he takes command from there, rounding things off with a dismissive volley. The 20-year-old is on the board.
Here’s the great Andre Agassi giving his thoughts: “They’re two guys with great backhands; I give them equal on the backhands. I give Zverev the advantage on serve, Mensik on the forehand. Mensik has nothing to lose and he plays better against better players. If Zverev is nervous and Mensik puts on some scoreboard pressure we may see some magic.”
Tik! Tok! Tik! Tok! They’re warming up. They’ve faced each other only once before, but it was just last month, on the clay in the Madrid last 16, with Zverev winning in three tight sets, 6-4, 6-7, 6-3, after Mensik had led by a break in the decider.
Zverev has spent four hours less on court at this French Open than Mensik, who’s played two five-setters – but Mensik has had two days off since his quarter-final win over Fonseca, he’s young and fit, so I’m not sure physicality will decide this. It’ll probably come down more to how they both handle the pressure, with Zverev, of course, sometimes struggling with self-belief in the biggest matches of his career. But, of course, he also has the freedom of knowing he’s not facing Sinner or Alcaraz.
Here they are, the 6ft 5in Mensik and 6ft 6in Zverev, giants both literally and metaphorically. Mensik arrives on court ahead of Zverev; the young Czech 26th seed will be hoping that’s a sign of things to come.
If you need to catch up on yesterday’s women’s semi-finals, Tumaini’s reports are here:
Preamble
Sinner. Alcaraz. Alcaraz. Sinner. Sinner. Alcaraz. Sinner. Alcaraz. Alcaraz … Zverev?
With Jannik Sinner evaporating in the second-round heat and Carlos Alcaraz exiting before the tournament had even started, Alexander Zverev has known for nine long days that he may never get a better chance to be the one who breaks Sincaraz’s duopoly of grand slam titles and finally make that step from the best male player to have not won a major – a label he must be absolutely sick of hearing – to slam champion.
So far Zverev has been playing with the freedom of a player who knows he doesn’t have to face his two tormentors, rather than the pressure of someone who’s expected to win. He’s dropped only one set en route to his 11th grand slam semi-final but, in truth, given the way the seeds have scattered, the 2024 runner-up hasn’t had to face a player of much note to get this far. While Jakub Mensik is raw and unproven at this stage of a slam, the 20-year-old Czech with the huge serve represents Zverev’s biggest challenge to date, having taken out Alex de Minaur and Andrey Rublev, before brilliantly neutralising the nuclear forehand of his fellow star in the making, Joao Fonseca, in the quarter-finals.
Zverev will hope all of his scars from grand slams past aren’t exposed by Mensik, who’s joined by two other semi-final debutants, Flavio Cobolli and Matteo Arnaldi, as they contest the first ever all-Italian men’s semi at a major – minus the most famous Italian of all. Arnaldi, the marathon man, has spent the most time on court in grand slam history to reach the last four, while Cobolli, a man of many superstitions, has been channelling his inner Rafa to break new ground, even using the 14-times champion’s favourite shower cubicle after every match. Sinner may be long gone, but this wildest and weirdest of French Opens could yet end with a bravissimo champion and Zverev being outshone by another Italian.
L’action commence: 14.30h à Paris/1.30pm BST. Allons-y!
