Alexander Zverev has dismissed accusations claim over sexual abuse made by the crowd during the trophy ceremony as the German lost to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final.
The German lost his third consecutive Grand Slam final after a 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 defeat to Jannik Sinner in the Australian Open final.
It was a one-sided final as Zverev never really found his best level against the world number one in a dominant display by Sinner.
After the match Zverev admitted that Sinner outplayed him and outlined the Italian’s strengths, “Yeah, I mean, today he completely outplayed me. From the back of the court, completely outplayed me,” Zverev said in his press conference.
“As I said, I’m serving better than him, but that’s it. He does everything else better than me. He moves better than me. He hits his forehand better than me. He hits his backhand better than me. He returns better than me. He volleys better than me. At the end of the day, tennis has five or six massive shots, like massive factors, and he does four or five of them better than me. That’s the reason why he won. He deserved to win today.
“Yeah, by far the best. I mean, the facts speak for themselves. He’s won all the Grand Slams on hard courts since last year. He’s lost, I think, three matches on hard courts, right? Three, four, something like that. I’m not sure, but somewhere around that. I mean, I think the facts speak for themselves. He’s in a different universe right now to anyone else.”
It was a tough moment for Zverev as he was crying just before the trophy ceremony begun and during the trophy ceremony told the audience that he may never win a Grand Slam trophy in his career.
Zverev shared his reasoning behind the statement and spoke about his exchange with Sinner where the Italian consoled the German, “I think it’s very difficult to give an on court speech after you lose a Grand Slam final. I’m doing everything I can. I’m working as hard as I ever did,” Zverev said.
“I think I’m doing all the right things off-court. I think I’m practicing the right things, but I lost in straight sets today. I mean, those are facts. That is a fact. I lost to Jannik in straight sets today. I mean, I don’t want to end my career as the best player of all time to never win a Grand Slam, that’s for sure.
“I’ll keep doing everything I can to lift one of those trophies. Yeah, it was a little bit of a tough moment for me because I really went in the final and also the preparation today, I really thought I had a very good chance because I was feeling good. I was feeling the ball quite well. I was feeling like I can compete.
“So it was just a difficult moment for me. I mean, now for the third time, seeing somebody lift the trophy, me standing next to that is difficult because there’s nothing more I want than to be able to hold one of those trophies in my hands.”
It will be a tough pill for Zverev to swallow as he looks to build on his first Australian Open final in order to break his Grand Slam duck in the future.
Speaking of the trophy ceremony there was quite a controversial moment during the ceremony where a woman shouted out to Zverev ‘Australia believes in Brenda and Olya.’
This is referring to the two women that claimed that Zverev was abusive towards them in their relationship with the German.
Speaking about the incident Zverev dismisses that there are any more allegations against him as aims to move forward with his life, “I believe there are no more accusations. There haven’t been for, what, nine months now. Good for her. I think she was the only one in the stadium who believed anything in that moment,” Zverev explained in his press conference.
“If that’s the case, good for her. I think I’ve done everything I can, and I’m not about to open that subject again.”