Alexander Zverev heckled by Australia Open crowd as star confesses 'I don't know if I'll ever lift a trophy'
Alexander Zverev was heckled by a member of the crowd after his Australian Open final loss to Jannik Sinner.
Top seed Sinner was in no mood to mess around as he secured a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win over second seed Zverev, who had overcome Andy Murray's student Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals after the Serbian veteran retired injured. But as the German tennis ace prepared to speak to the crowd after the match a spectator could be heard loudly shouting "Australia Believes Olga and Brenda" multiple times, before being taken out of the venue. Her comments were in reference to Zverev’s two former partners who accused him of domestic violence, with a 2024 court case settled without finding guilt or innocence.
After the crowd had settled, a brutally honest Zverev provided a blunt assessment of his own performance - and admitted he doesn't know if he'll ever lift a Grand Slam title, saying: "It sucks standing here with the trophy and not being able to touch it. But congratulations to Jannik, you more than deserve it. You are the best player in the world by far.
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"I was hoping that I could be more of a competitor today, but you were just too good. It’s as simple as that. 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. We are trying to do all the right work, I’m just not good enough it’s as simple as that. But I really appreciate what everybody has done over the past few years coming back from my ankle injury to become world No.2 and playing Grand Slam finals again.
"I appreciate everything that they have done and I wouldn’t be here without them. Last but not least I want to thank the crowd. They have been nothing but amazing to me. You guys pushed me through to the final. I really did think I had a chance, but here I am. 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."
The victorius Sinner meanwhile was full of praise for his opponent, commenting: "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. Keep it up, keep working hard, because we all believe that you can lift one of these very, very soon."
