Alexander Zverev refused to be drawn after a spectator shouted the names of two women, one of whom had settled assault accusations against him, during the Australian Open 2025 trophy presentation on Sunday. While addressing the crowd at Melbourne Park following his final defeat to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Zverev’s speech was interrupted after a spectator shouted the names of two women who had put domestic abuse allegations on Zverev in recent years, leading to boos and whistles from the crowd.

The German World No. 2 was well beaten in three sets by defending champion Jannik Sinner in the men’s singles final in Melbourne. Zverev was outclasseed 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-4 by Sinner, who won his second straight Australian Open title and third straight hard court Grand Slam.

Following the game, a woman began shouting out as the 27-year-old Zverev stepped up to give his speech afterwards at Rod Laver Arena. There were a few boos and whistles, but eventually the spectator’s voice was shut out by cheers and claps from the rest of the crowd.

“Australia believes in Olya and Brenda,” shouted the spectator, interrupted Zverev’s speech.

It was a reference to Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea, two of Zverev’s ex-girlfriends. Patea, who also has a daughter with Zverev, had brought a criminal case against Zverev. However, it was settled off court.

Sharypova, who is also a former tennis player, had alleged domestic abuse against Zverev, but never went to police over it.

A German court in June dropped a case against the player over allegations he assaulted his ex-girlfriend, after a settlement was agreed hours before he was due to play in the semi-final of the French Open.

Zverev, who has denied wrongdoing, was asked in a post-match news conference to comment about what he heard.

He said: “I believe there are no more accusations. There haven’t been for, what, nine months now?

He added: “I think I’ve done everything I can, and I’m not about to open that subject again.”

With AFP inputs

Alexander Zverev refused to be drawn after a spectator shouted the names of two women, one of whom had settled assault accusations against him, during the Australian Open 2025 trophy presentation on Sunday. While addressing the crowd at Melbourne Park following his final defeat to World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Zverev’s speech was interrupted after a spectator shouted the names of two women who had put domestic abuse allegations on Zverev in recent years, leading to boos and whistles from the crowd.

The German World No. 2 was well beaten in three sets by defending champion Jannik Sinner in the men’s singles final in Melbourne. Zverev was outclasseed 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-4 by Sinner, who won his second straight Australian Open title and third straight hard court Grand Slam.

Following the game, a woman began shouting out as the 27-year-old Zverev stepped up to give his speech afterwards at Rod Laver Arena. There were a few boos and whistles, but eventually the spectator’s voice was shut out by cheers and claps from the rest of the crowd.

“Australia believes in Olya and Brenda,” shouted the spectator, interrupted Zverev’s speech.

It was a reference to Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea, two of Zverev’s ex-girlfriends. Patea, who also has a daughter with Zverev, had brought a criminal case against Zverev. However, it was settled off court.

‘Australia believes Olya & Brenda’ pic.twitter.com/A7zowZo812

— Adam (@AdamJoseph____) January 26, 2025

Sharypova, who is also a former tennis player, had alleged domestic abuse against Zverev, but never went to police over it.

A German court in June dropped a case against the player over allegations he assaulted his ex-girlfriend, after a settlement was agreed hours before he was due to play in the semi-final of the French Open.

Zverev, who has denied wrongdoing, was asked in a post-match news conference to comment about what he heard.

He said: “I believe there are no more accusations. There haven’t been for, what, nine months now?

He added: “I think I’ve done everything I can, and I’m not about to open that subject again.”

With AFP inputs

Madison Keys on Saturday finally claimed her long-awaited Grand Slam title, defeating two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka to win the 2025 Australian Open women’s singles title. The 29-year-old American triumphed 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a thrilling final under the lights of Rod Laver Arena, lasting two hours and two minutes.

With this victory, Keys etched her name in history as the first woman to defeat the world’s top two players at a major since Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2009 French Open, and the first to do so at the Australian Open since Serena Williams in 2005.

At 29, Keys is one of the older first-time major champions. She becomes the fourth-oldest behind Flavia Pennetta, who was 33 when she won the 2015 US Open, Ann Jones, who was 30 when she won Wimbledon in 1969, and Francesca Schiavone, who was 29 when she triumphed at Roland Garros in 2010.

Sabalenka was furious after the loss and smashed her racket. 

Belarussian star #Sabalenka ( who won 20 Australian Open matches in a row ) seen smashing own racket in disgust of her defeat#belarussiangirl #belarusia #sport pic.twitter.com/jqFVXb5z6O

— Ali Shunnaq (@schunnaq) January 25, 2025

Aryna Sabalenka was asked about throwing her racquet after losing the Australian Open final:

“I needed to throw those negative emotions at the end just so I could give a speech. I was just trying to let it go & be a good person, be respectful”

pic.twitter.com/BS1ejILnKP

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) January 25, 2025

Keys enters the history books not just for her victory, but also for her impressive form leading up to the tournament. Her 12-match winning streak, which includes the Adelaide title two weeks earlier, is the longest of her career. Interestingly, this final was the first between players who had both won lead-up tournaments since the Australian Open shifted to its January calendar position in 1987.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka had come into the final on a 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park and with an 11-0 unbeaten record in 2025 after lifting the Brisbane trophy three weeks ago. She had been aiming to become the first woman to seal a hat-trick of Australian Open titles since Martina Hingis in 1997-99, and owned a 4-1 head-to-head lead over No.19 seed Keys.

The Australian Open marked Keys’ 46th Grand Slam main-draw appearance. Only two players have taken more appearances before winning their first title — Flavia Pennetta with 49, and Marion Bartoli with 47.

Madison Keys arrived in Australia under the radar and with the modest goal of seeing how well she could perform with her 30th birthday looming next month. The resilient American now has the answer after defeating two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in Saturday’s Australian Open final. It is Keys’s first major title, having reached a second Grand Slam final eight years after her first in New York. She lost on that occasion to Sloane Stephens.

The 6-3, 6-0 loss has rankled ever since, but it was also a learning experience.

“I think during that match I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment and the opportunity and all of that, that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play,” she said this week.

“I think the big thing for me has just been knowing that there are going to be a lot of moments where I’m uncomfortable in the match.

“It’s going to be stressful. You have thousands of people watching you.”

Now ranked 14, Keys will return to the top 10 for the first time since 2019 next week.

She made her first semi-final at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a prodigious 19-year-old to showcase her potential.

A decade on, she defeated world number two Iga Swiatek in the last four this time to set up a showdown with world number one Sabalenka.

The Belarusian had been attempting to become the first woman to win three Melbourne crowns in a row since Martina Hingis from 1997-1999.

But Keys, the 19th seed and underdog, made a nonsense of all that to clinch the title 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an absorbing final.

‘Sharpening the axe’

Keys ended her season early in October last year and married her coach, Bjorn Fratangelo, a month later.

The two players had been dating since 2017 and Fratangelo became her coach in 2023.

Fratangelo told reporters on the eve of the final that he felt Keys’s best was yet to come.

“I think she’s nowhere near her full potential,” said Fratangelo, a fellow American who won the boys’ singles at the 2011 French Open.

“Sharpening the axe can get you so far, but sometimes you just need new tools. I think that’s what I’ve tried to bring to the table.”

Sabalenka and Keys both boast a power game that can overwhelm opponents.

After losing the semi-final, Swiatek talked about Keys’s “bravery” in going for big shots at big moments.

Fratangelo described Sabalenka on the eve of the final as “a little more of the polished version of Madison”.

“But what I’ve seen from her now is just what the greats do,” he said of Keys.

“They have the ability to raise the level when it matters most.”

And so it proved on Saturday as Keys clinched the 10th title of her career, and biggest, for an early 30th birthday present.

Keys did it the hard way, beating former Melbourne finalists Danielle Collins and Elena Rybakina on the way.

She then came from a set down and saved a match point against world number two Swiatek in the semi-finals.

Alexander Zverev has been trying for a decade to win a Grand Slam and has overcome an array of challenges to put himself on the brink of a breakthrough at the Australian Open. The 6ft 6ins (1.98m) German has been destined for the top from a young age, hailing from a tennis family where his mother and father both played the sport to a high level in the former Soviet Union. “For me, my family is everything and I owe them a lot for helping me to become the tennis player that I am today,” the 27-year-old, often seen as the sport’s most unfulfilled talent, said.

“They both worked extremely hard and taught my brother and me everything we know,” added Zverev, who faces Jannik Sinner in Sunday’s final in Melbourne.

He has been through the grinder on his way to the top, living with diabetes, dealing with a serious ankle injury and having allegations that he assaulted an ex-girlfriend splashed across the world’s newspapers.

The court case was dropped last year after a settlement was agreed hours before he was due to play in the French Open semi-finals.

He strenuously denied the allegations.

Known by his nickname “Sascha”, Zverev’s greatest achievement so far was winning gold at the Covid-hit Tokyo Olympics.

It was the first time a German had clinched the men’s singles title, stunning heavy favourite Novak Djokovic before taking down Karen Khachanov in the final.

“There is nothing better than this,” he said at the time — except perhaps winning a Grand Slam crown.

Born in Hamburg in 1997 to Russian parents, Zverev was exposed to tennis from an early age through his mother Irina and father Alexander, who remains his coach.

They moved to Germany after the collapse of the Soviet Union, where they began training their son.

His talent quickly became evident, winning the boys’ singles tournament at the 2014 Australian Open and becoming junior world number one.

He broke into the senior ranks and was named the 2015 ATP Newcomer of the Year. By the time he was 20, he was in the world’s top three.

Highs and lows

Zverev, who idolised Roger Federer growing up, made his first Grand Slam final in 2020 at the US Open, agonisingly losing in five sets to Dominic Thiem after being 2-0 up.

But his seemingly unstoppable rise was temporarily halted when he tore ankle ligaments while playing Rafael Nadal in the Roland Garros semis two years later and he underwent surgery.

Returning in January 2023, Zverev captured a 20th career title in Hamburg before the best season of his career in 2024, powering into the French Open final and surging to world number two, dispelling concerns that he was mentally frail.

“In the life of a professional athlete you will have the highest highs and the lowest lows,” said Zverev.

“Getting caught up in the lows is the biggest mistake that you can make.

“You shouldn’t try to evaluate everything when times are tough, you should try to find ways to get better when you’re on a high.”

Zverev has suffered from diabetes since he was four and created the Alexander Zverev Foundation in 2022 to support children with the condition and provide medication for those in developing countries.

An avid football and basketball fan, his older brother Mischa also played on the ATP Tour.

Jannik Sinner’s reserved public persona belies a mature and steely 23-year-old who has shown supreme mental strength to put aside a doping scandal and make another Australian Open final. Sinner’s status as Italy’s biggest sporting star and the new dominant force in men’s tennis has only risen over the past fortnight in Melbourne. With Spain’s golden boy and chief rival Carlos Alcaraz long gone he has just one more hurdle to clear, against Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final, to become back-to-back champion.

Only three other men have managed the feat at Melbourne Park since the turn of the century — Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Sinner has positioned himself to join them despite being dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.

Hanging over his head is a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against his exoneration, the global body asking for Sinner to be banned for up to two years.

A hearing is scheduled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for April. He has denied knowingly doping.

“There’s been a lot of pressure around him for the last nine months now, since April last year,” said his coach Darren Cahill.

“He deals with it as well as anybody that I’ve ever seen deal with pressure. He’s an amazing young man that’s been able to put that to one side.

“He has a clear conscience with what’s going on. That’s the main reason he’s been able to go onto the court and walk tall and have that belief and play with the confidence that he has.”

Born in the northern Italian village of Innichen, a stone’s throw from the Austrian border, a career in professional tennis was not a given for Sinner.

He was a champion skier as a youngster and still enjoys the sport in the off-season.

Sinner was also a keen footballer, playing for a local team as an attacker.

But he decided to commit to tennis and at age 13 moved 600 kilometres (400 miles) away from his family to Bordighera on the Italian Riviera to start his long march to the elite levels of the game.

Wise head

After a steady grind, Sinner made an emphatic statement that he was among the elite by winning his maiden Grand Slam in Melbourne last year.

He hasn’t looked back, winning eight titles in 2024, including the US Open and ATP Finals with a striking aspect his extraordinary air of calm on court.

Quiet and reserved, he keeps his personal life away from the spotlight as much as possible, saying very little about his relationship with fellow tennis player Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Seen by some as too serious and even icy, the Italian has worked to soften his image in Melbourne, even laughing during some of his interviews, a side of him rarely seen before.

“He’s matured for sure,” said Cahill. “I think there’s many areas of not just what he’s doing on the court but certainly off the court as well.

“All these young kids, they are living a life that is great.

“But you have to have a wise head on your shoulders dealing with the media and the fans and the pressure of playing in front of 15,000 people and living up to expectations.

“You grow up fast. Jannik is one of those.”

Jannik Sinner’s reserved public persona belies a mature and steely 23-year-old who has shown supreme mental strength to put aside a doping scandal and make another Australian Open final. Sinner’s status as Italy’s biggest sporting star and the new dominant force in men’s tennis has only risen over the past fortnight in Melbourne. With Spain’s golden boy and chief rival Carlos Alcaraz long gone he has just one more hurdle to clear, against Alexander Zverev in Sunday’s final, to become back-to-back champion.

Only three other men have managed the feat at Melbourne Park since the turn of the century — Andre Agassi, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic.

Sinner has positioned himself to join them despite being dogged by controversy after twice testing positive for traces of the steroid clostebol in March.

Hanging over his head is a World Anti-Doping Agency appeal against his exoneration, the global body asking for Sinner to be banned for up to two years.

A hearing is scheduled at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for April. He has denied knowingly doping.

“There’s been a lot of pressure around him for the last nine months now, since April last year,” said his coach Darren Cahill.

“He deals with it as well as anybody that I’ve ever seen deal with pressure. He’s an amazing young man that’s been able to put that to one side.

“He has a clear conscience with what’s going on. That’s the main reason he’s been able to go onto the court and walk tall and have that belief and play with the confidence that he has.”

Born in the northern Italian village of Innichen, a stone’s throw from the Austrian border, a career in professional tennis was not a given for Sinner.

He was a champion skier as a youngster and still enjoys the sport in the off-season.

Sinner was also a keen footballer, playing for a local team as an attacker.

But he decided to commit to tennis and at age 13 moved 600 kilometres (400 miles) away from his family to Bordighera on the Italian Riviera to start his long march to the elite levels of the game.

Wise head

After a steady grind, Sinner made an emphatic statement that he was among the elite by winning his maiden Grand Slam in Melbourne last year.

He hasn’t looked back, winning eight titles in 2024, including the US Open and ATP Finals with a striking aspect his extraordinary air of calm on court.

Quiet and reserved, he keeps his personal life away from the spotlight as much as possible, saying very little about his relationship with fellow tennis player Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Seen by some as too serious and even icy, the Italian has worked to soften his image in Melbourne, even laughing during some of his interviews, a side of him rarely seen before.

“He’s matured for sure,” said Cahill. “I think there’s many areas of not just what he’s doing on the court but certainly off the court as well.

“All these young kids, they are living a life that is great.

“But you have to have a wise head on your shoulders dealing with the media and the fans and the pressure of playing in front of 15,000 people and living up to expectations.

“You grow up fast. Jannik is one of those.”

Underdog Madison Keys upset Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam crown at the age of 29. The American Keys ended world number one Sabalenka’s dream of becoming the first woman for 26 years to win a third successive Melbourne Park singles crown. Keys yelled in delight and wiped away tears on securing the title after withstanding a fierce fightback from the Belarusian two-time defending champion. Sabalenka, the 2023 and 2024 champion, buried her head in a towel after her 20-match win streak at Melbourne Park was ended.

For 19th-seeded Keys it was the culmination of a 15-year journey from teenage prodigy to major winner.

The American had been tipped as a future world number one after winning her maiden WTA Tour match at the age of 14.

She made her first major semi-final at Melbourne Park 10 years ago as a 19-year-old but a decade on she can finally call herself a Grand Slam champion.

Keys becomes the fourth oldest first-time winner of a major since the Open Era began in 1968.

It was Keys who came out of the blocks in controlled fashion in just her second Grand Slam final.

Keys was playing with her left thigh strapped but was not hampered as she played exemplary tennis to put Sabalenka under pressure.

With the help of two Sabalenka double faults, Keys secured an immediate break.

Sabalenka could not make any inroads on Keys, who landed 86 percent of her first serves in the set.

A third double fault helped Keys unlock a further break and race into a 5-1 lead.

Sabalenka saved set point and then clawed back one of the breaks. But her error count was rising and Keys, who smacked 11 winners to four, secured the first set in 35 minutes.

Sabalenka, renowned for her guts and determination, had similarly lost the first set in the 2023 final against Elena Rybakina before going on to win.

Perhaps more significantly, Sabalenka had lost the first set 6-0 to Keys in the 2023 US Open semi-final before fighting back to reach the final.

That result may have been preying on both players’ minds as the Belarusian began to flip the script in the second set, breaking in the third game and moving ahead 3-1.

Another break followed on a brilliant Sabalenka cross-court pass and she levelled the match after an hour and 20 minutes on court.

Sabalenka by now was timing the ball much better and a younger Keys might have buckled.

But this mature version of Keys, who battled all the way to beat Iga Swiatek in a 10-point final set tiebreak in the semi-finals, is made of sterner stuff.

She held from 0-30 in the third game to keep it on serve as the final set became a big-hitting baseline war with no holding back from either player.

It stayed that way until 5-6 when Sabalenka served to take it to a final set tiebreak.

Keys brought up two match points and secured the title on the second with her 29th winner after 2hr 2min.

AO 2025, Women’s Singles Final LIVE, Aryna Sabalenka vs Madison Keys© AFP