With his three-hour, 33-minute victory, Zverev has moved 700 points clear of Sinner atop the ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as a barometer for who will claim ATP Year-End No. 1. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
Zverev was contesting his sixth Grand Slam final and third this year, while Shelton had never before reached that stage in his career. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The German, who is 25-2 at the majors this year, is firmly in contention for the year-end crown despite having won only two titles \u2014 both of them Grand Slam trophies.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In his victory speech, Zverev paid special tribute to his mother and intimated that not winning a Grand Slam was hardly the hardest obstacle he faced. \u201cWhen your 4-year-old son gets diagnosed with diabetes and doctors in the office tell you that life and sports will be very limited for that child, it takes a very, very strong mother to walk out of those offices and say \u2018My son will be whatever he wants to be,\u2019\u201d Zverev said. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
\u201cIf he wants to be a tennis player, he\u2019ll be a tennis player. If he wants to do something else, he\u2019ll do something else. But this illness will not define us. And I\u2019m happy that we worked through it, and that we\u2019re doing things that we\u2019re doing right now,\" he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In his victory speech, Zverev paid special tribute to his mother and intimated that not winning a Grand Slam was hardly the hardest obstacle he faced. \u201cWhen your 4-year-old son gets diagnosed with diabetes and doctors in the office tell you that life and sports will be very limited for that child, it takes a very, very strong mother to walk out of those offices and say \u2018My son will be whatever he wants to be,\u2019\u201d Zverev said. <\/p>\r\n\r\n
The American was also aiming to become just the second African American man to triumph at this level after Arthur Ashe in 1975. Despite defeat in his first major final, the 23-year-old, who defeated defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-finals, will rise to a new career-high No. 4 in the ATP Rankings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n