It is nearly six years since the German blew a golden chance to win the US Open against Dominic Thiem, while he also lost in Paris to Carlos Alcaraz two years ago and to Jannik Sinner at the Australian Open last year.
But injured Alcaraz did not even get to Paris and Sinner's early exit made this the opportunity Zverev had been waiting for as he repelled a brave comeback from the Italian 10th seed Cobolli, who was contesting his first slam final on Sunday (Monday AEST), to prevail  6-1 4-6 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-1.
An emotional and exhausted Zverev collapsed to the clay when a final overhead from Cobolli landed well long before the good friends shared a long hug after the four-and-a-quarter hour battle.
It was not quite the dramatic denouement of 12 months ago, when Alcaraz and Sinner contested one of the best matches of all-time, but it was a fitting ending to what has been a refreshingly unpredictable tournament.
The winner will certainly not be universally welcomed, though. While Zverev's tennis CV merits a major title, he is a polarising figure, after being accused of domestic violence by two ex-girlfriends.
He has strenuously denied all the accusations but Brenda Patea, who is also the mother of his daughter, took her case to court before Zverev reached a financial settlement.
Zverev is the first German man to win a slam singles title since Boris Becker at the Australian Open 30 years ago, while it is so long since a German won this title that the victor, Henner Henkel, later died at the Battle of Stalingrad.
Both men had lost only two sets in reaching the final but Cobolli had been given a walkover in his semi-final after friend and countryman Matteo Arnaldi came down with an ill-timed stomach virus.
Cobolli has been rising over the past couple of years and reached his first slam quarter-final at Wimbledon last year but this was a big step up for the 24-year-old.
Zverev swept through the first set, breaking the Cobolli serve three times, but the Italian applied some pressure to break the Zverev serve at 3-3 in the second.
The German's demons did not seem to be far from the surface as he ranted at his support box, earning a round of booing from the crowd on Court Philippe Chatrier, and the crowd were fully behind Cobolli's puppyish energy, passion and varied game.
But Cobolli's two missed forehands at 4-5 in the third set donated a hugely significant advantage to his opponent.
Zverev, though, was still vulnerable and looked to be struggling physically in the fourth, stretching out his legs and consulting the trainer after receiving a package from his team.
At 3-1 up in the tie-break, victory was tantalisingly close, but back came Cobolli, and the Italian recovered brilliantly from missing an overhead on his first set point, powering a forehand down the line to keep his chances alive.
That effort seemed to take it out of the Italian, though, and the decider quickly got away from him.
