He is the only man who wasn’t born in Europe to win a Grand Slam in the last 17 years

Alexander Zverev, a German tennis player, has made history by becoming the only player in the last 17 years to win a Grand Slam without being born in Europe. During the US Open, Zverev defeated Ben Shelton in five sets, securing a clean sweep of European players in the 2026 men's Grand Slam season. Zverev previously won the French Open and will add Wimbledon to his collection after Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner won the Australian Open and Wimbledon respectively.

Before Zverev, the last non-European Grand Slam champion was Juan Martin del Potro from Argentina. Del Potro's last Grand Slam title was the US Open in 2009, where he defeated Roger Federer. He had a successful career, winning 22 ATP titles, and was ranked third in the ATP rankings. Throughout his career, Del Potro amassed 439 wins and 174 losses, earning $25,896,046 in prize money.