NEW YORK CITY: For almost six years after making his maiden Grand Slam final here in New York, when he came within two points of the title before losing his nerve and serve, Alexander Zverev danced in the darkness of doubt. Would he ever?He won Olympic gold in Tokyo a year later, reached two more major finals in Paris and then Melbourne, but couldn’t quite carry it across the finish line in a Grand Slam title match. In January last year, Zverev was inconsolable after falling in his third Slam final. Time ticked by, and the 29-year-old wondered if he would ever claim a crown on the sport’s biggest stages.That changed at Roland Garros in June, although his critics will argue that circumstances finally fell his way. Carlos Alcaraz was sidelined by a wrist injury and Jannik Sinner fell early, opening up a draw that suddenly looked like Zverev’s moment. Across Paris’ 16th arrondissement, the feeling grew that it was finally the German’s time. With Italian Flavio Cobolli standing across the net from him in the final, he delivered.Now that he has done it once, Zverev hopes to add the US Open title on Sunday to the replica of the Coupe des Mousquetaires he has back home. After a slow start to his campaign in New York, the top seed has found another gear in the second week, playing near-flawless tennis to book his place in his third Grand Slam final of the season.Zverev overcame a spirited second-set challenge from world No. 50 Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (6) to make his sixth Grand Slam final. He will play American No. 1 Ben Shelton, conqueror of Carlos Alcaraz in Sunday’s title match. The 23-year-old eighth seed rallied past compatriot Frances Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 to reach his first major final.Zverev, who has sharpened his all-court game with steely aggression this year, will be a tall order in Sunday’s title match. He has the physical might and the mental flex, though it wasn’t always that way for the German, who struggled to overcome doubt.“There was question marks, there was doubts of whether I was ever going to win one for sure,” Zverev said of the scars.Zverev’s new, aggressive brand of tennis came alive spectacularly on grass at Wimbledon in July, but he said it wasn’t a decision he was making on the match court.“It’s a conscious decision that you’re doing it in practice every single day so that it becomes automatic in a match. In a match, you shouldn’t think,” he said of his mental make-up. “Everything should just be a flow. The flow starts with what you do in practice.”Zverev knows Sunday will feel very different from the last time he played a US Open final, when he faced Dominic Thiem in an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2020 under the safety rules of the COVID-19 pandemic, when matches were played without crowd noise or applause.This time, he will walk out to a packed house, with the crowd firmly behind Shelton.“I’m looking forward to that. I think it’s going to be a fantastic feeling playing a final in a sold-out Arthur Ashe and not in an empty one.”Zverev is no stranger to hostile territory, and says he enjoys the intensity when the crowd gets behind the home player.“I enjoy these kind of atmospheres. I played a lot of French guys in France. I think the most hostile crowd is when you are playing a French in Paris Bercy,” he said of the venue which until last year was the home of the Paris Masters. “That was quite intense, and I always enjoyed those. Of course, I played Aussies in Australia. I played Arthur Fery at Wimbledon.”“For me, a loud and energetic crowd is always great, as long as they’re fair, as long as they don’t interrupt in the middle of points.”The 29-year-old, who is 24-2 at the majors in 2026, has now drawn level with Sinner atop the Live Race To Turin at 7,950 points, an indicator as to how the battle to claim the Year-End No. 1 is shaping.