Alexander Zverev is the “heavy favourite” to win the 2026 US Open final with renowned coach Rick Macci saying Ben Shelton will need to pull a rabbit out of his hat if he is to win the title.

Reigning French Open champion Zverev will play in his third consecutive Grand Slam final in 2026 as he also reached the showpiece match at Wimbledon in July, losing against Jannik Sinner in four sets.

The German will play in his sixth major final as he also finished runner-up at the US Open in 2020, Roland Garros in 2023 and the Australian Open in 2025.

On the opposite side of the net will be a player who is appearing in his first final at this level, as Shelton fell at the penultimate hurdle in his previous two semi-finals.

Besides his experience in Grand Slam finals, Zverev has also dominated his head-to-head rivalry with the American as he leads 5-0, having dropped only one set so far against Shelton, and that was back in their first-ever meeting in 2024.

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Legendary coach Macci, who has mentored the likes of Venus and Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and Andy Roddick, believes everything points to a Zverev win on Saturday at Flushing Meadows.

“The US OPEN MENS FINALS is 100% a ZVEREV match to lose,” he wrote on social media. “He is a heavy favourite and has been there done that.

“His serve is the Z FACTOR OR X FACTOR. His cutter on the deuce court is world-class, and German Jackhammer up the T delivers 138mph with gas.

“Most people want Big Ben to be last one standing at the end. If he pulls a rabbit or Gator out of his hat will be the first American since Roddick to win it and get off the mat.”

Of course, Shelton – who is hoping to become the first American man since Andy Roddick in 2003 to win a major – does have one or two things counting in his favour as he will have the backing of the New York crowd and his booming serve is one of his major weapons.

But key to a potential upset will be dealing with Zverev’s serve.

“Shelton has to fire up the American crowd to be wild and loud, jumping and pumping. He has a real shot to win this Slam; holding serve is the key and getting out of a jam,” Macci wrote.

“Zverev stands on MADISON AVENUE to return serve so Benny the Blaster has to go monster kick serve and volley and have unreal nerve. The Benny slider on the ad court should open up the court like the RED SEA and if he serves well he might rewrite history.”

He added: “Shelton has improved a lot mentally. He is more focused on most points and as a result competes better start to finish.

“Backhand is a little more compact and the rest of his game is thunder and lightning. He uses the entire court with rips, chips, dips and flips and the key against ZVEREV will be his return game.

“If he can negate that first-serve rocket Ben the Blaster might just put a grand slam in his front pocket.”