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It was the 39th and final time the Rolex Paris Masters was played at the arena in Bercy, on the banks of the River Seine in Paris and Germans have book-ended the championship. In 1986 in its first year Boris Becker won his first title at the event and now Alexander Zverev has won the last one to be played there.
Zverev took 75 minutes to overcome Ugo Humbert. It was their third meeting, and their head-to-head stood at 1-1. The Frenchman won their first meeting and Zverev won the second with both being tight three setters.
The last time they played was a year ago, in a second round match also at the Rolex Paris Masters and it was 7-6 in the final. This time Zverev never relented and cleaned up 6-2, 6-2. This is the first time Humbert has lost a match on French indoor hard courts, since that second round match a year ago, he was 13-0 going into the Bercy final
"I won a Masters. I'm obviously very happy about that," Zverev said. "And especially I think today in the final, I played a pretty good match. I think solid from the start till the end. I didn't have a feeling it was going to be 2 and 2. But actually from the start and from the rallies in the first games, even when I lost the rallies, I felt like the ball was quite well on my racquet.
"When I have this feeling, I feel well on the court. I feel comfortable and confident, maybe being a bit more aggressive, going for more shots than I usually do. And against him, it was important. You know, I think he's one of the best players when he's aggressive.
"I think he's maybe struggling a bit still when he has to defend. So, when I put him in a position where he has to defend, I think that's a position where I'm comfortable and he's not. So, yeah, I felt great off the back of the court, and I think against him that was the key today."
This was Zverev's second final at the Rolex Paris Masters having lost to Daniil Medvedev in 2020 and he and Becker, who won it three times, three years apart each time - 1986, 1989 and 1992, are the only Germans to claim the title.
Humbert played a terrific tournament which included a win over Carlos Alcaraz, and he became the first Frenchman to reach the Bercy final since Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was runner-up in 2011. Tsonga won this title in 2008 and was the last Frenchman to win an ATP Masters 1000, in Toronto in 2014.
Humbert was also trying to be the fourth lefty to win in the event with the last one being Greg Rusedski in 1998
"It was a beautiful week, despite my defeat," Humbert said. "My feeling is that I gave it my all. I have no regrets. He was stronger than me in every aspect of tennis. I couldn't recover from yesterday's match enough, but congrats to him.
"He was better than me in every part of the game, and physically it was tough for me today with my battle against Karen (Khachanov). So, yeah, he was much better. Just congratulations, yeah."
Zverev, who won the Italian Open in Rome in May, is the second player to win multiple Masters 1000's this season, the other being world No.1 Jannik Sinner who has won three. Zverev has also taken sole ownership for the time being for the most singles wins this season, 66, one more than Sinner.
Irrespective of the final outcome Zverev was going to return to the No.2 world ranking. This is his seventh career ATP Masters 1000 title and first on hard courts since Cincinnati in 2021 and he extends his record to 26-0 against lefthanders going back to Roland Garros last year.
Zverev broke Humbert's serve in the third and fifth games of the first set and closed the set with an ace on his first set point. The stats of the first set highlighted the fact that Humbert was not up to par with his tennis. They both had seven winners, but Zverev who never faced a break point in the final, had just four errors compared to Humbert's 16.
The Frenchman started the second set with a double fault and lost serve in the first game and again in the third game. Zverev went up 4-0 before Humbert was on the scoreboard in the second. On his first championship point Zverev had an easy high forehand crosscourt winner and he raised both arms in victory.
The doubles title at the Rolex Paris Masters was won by Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic, who has also won our tournament a few weeks back. They defeated the first time pairing of Lloyd Glasspool and Adam Pavlasek 3-6, 6-3 10/5. Besides winning the Rolex Shanghai Masters and Rolex Paris Masters, the Dutch-Croat tandem had also won the first Masters 1000 of the year, in Indian Wells.
In 2025 the Rolex Paris Masters moves to the La Defense Arena, the venue that hosted the swimming event at this year's Paris Olympic Games.
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