‘It sucks’: Runner-up consoled by champ, heckled over allegations in heartbreaking post-final scenes

The emotion of a third consecutive loss in a slam final was written all over Alex Zverev’s face, with opponent Jannik Sinner consoling the world No.2 after their Australian Open decider.

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Zverev was clearly heartbroken by the loss, which wasn’t as close as his previous two slam finals, the German unable to earn a break point for the entire match.

He buried his face in his hands sitting on his bench after Sinner served out the match in straight sets, and was near tears as he stood for the trophy ceremony, with his younger rival consoling him.

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Before Zverev could speak, he was interrupted by a woman yelling: “Australia Believes Olya and Brenda! Australia Believes Olya and Brenda!”

Her comments were in reference to Zverev’s two former partners who accused him of domestic violence. Olya Sharypova did not go to the police, and a lengthy investigation by the ATP found insufficient evidence to support her allegations, with the report not published.

Brenda Patea, who is the mother of his child, took Zverev to court – in which the prosecutor alleged Zverev pushed her against a wall and strangled her with both hands following a “heated argument”.

After the trial was taken behind closed doors, it soon ended under a unique German court system ruling; similar to a settlement, it sees Zverev maintain his presumption of innocence, but no ruling of guilt or innocence was officially made, and he paid a €200,000 ‘financial stipulation’ to the state.

Notably, Zverev would not have had to pay if a judge had formally declared him not guilty; the process was effectively discontinued before a ruling could be made either way.

A situation that had already been handled awkwardly by tennis authorities, with Zverev allowed to play while being investigated (against the rules of many sports leagues, which have domestic abuse policies), was left unresolved with a lack of clarity on what really happened.

Zverev, of course, had to be allowed to continue playing once the legal process ended. But as former New York Times journalist turned Substack writer Ben Rothenberg explained at Bounces, “there’s a lot of glum, frustrated witnesses to his (Zverev’s) continued presence and preeminence in tennis”.

“It has a real, painful impact for many people who do not enjoy watching him play, many of whom cannot bring themselves to ever watch his matches because of how strongly they feel about him.”

Rothenberg added: “I’ve heard it described as a great “exhale” when Zverev loses at majors; with him into his second final in nine months, again many in the tennis world will be holding their breath until the last point of the men’s final.”

Zverev ignored the intrusion and won many fans inside Rod Laver Arena with his speech.

“It sucks standing here next to this thing (the winner’s trophy) and not being able to touch it, to be honest,” he said.

“But first of all, congratulations to Jannik. You more than deserve it. You are the best player in the world by far.

“I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today, but you would just too good. It’s as simple as that. Congratulations to you. You really deserve it.

“Congrats to your team as well. You have done all the right things, you have done all the work, and there is nobody that deserves this trophy more.

“I want to thank my team. I mean, are trying to do all the right work. I’m just not good enough. It’s as simple as that.”

He continued: “But I really appreciate what everybody has done over the last few years, back from my ankle injury, to world No.2. To playing Grand Slam finals again. So, I really appreciate everything that they have done.

“And last but not least, I want to thank the crowd. The crowd has been nothing but amazing to me.

“You know, you guys pushed me through to the final. I really did think I had a chance, but here I am. You know, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to lift a trophy, but I’ll keep coming back, keep trying, and I’ll see you guys all next year. Thank you.”

Sinner spoke highly of Zverev to begin his own speech.

“You are an amazing player. Keep believing in yourself, because I think all players, coaches, whoever is involved in this sport knows how strong you are, not only as a player, but also as a person,” the world No.1 said.

“So, keep it up, keep working hard, because we all believe that you can lift one of these very, very soon. So, I wish you only the best.”