Alexander Zverev collapsed onto the clay, covering his face as tears streamed down. After years of near misses, injuries, brutal draws, and constant questions, he did it. He lifted his maiden Grand Slam trophy at the French Open. It was a moment he had dreamed about for years, and one that surely came with a champion’s speech long imagined. Even then, he missed a few names, notable ones that raised eyebrows.

Zverev thanked almost everyone from the federation to the ball kids, his physical trainer, his best friend, even his physio and the crowd present. However he forgot mentioning his grandmother, his mother Irina Zvereva and girlfriend Sophia Thomalla during the speech. When it comes to his family, he simply thanked his father and brother.

“I have the longest-lasting coach, which is my father.” Zverev also thanked his brother, “I have my brother also, 29 years. Can’t get rid of him either.”

Moreover, his grandmother was just sitting at the stands, and even then, she was not on that list. She, in fact, had attended his matches throughout the tournament. The only noticeable gesture Zverev showed his grandmother was a hug after winning the final.

While his mom and girlfriend weren’t present in the stands during the final, he was still expected to say a few things about them, given their close relationship. Neverthless the German had previously revealed that she gets quite nervous watching him play in person and thus prefers not to come to the court. Hence, her absence wasn’t unforeseeable. Even on the occasions his mother does come to see his matches, she sometimes leaves for the hotel after the warm-ups themselves.

“She walks the dogs, says that the dogs can’t stay in one place for so long. But that’s just an excuse. She doesn’t want to watch my matches,” he had told TNT Sports in an interview after his win over Jakub Mensik in the semifinal.

Coming back, this wasn’t even the first time that his post-match comments had come under the scanner during the French Open. Following his four-set victory over Jakub Mensik in the semifinals, Zverev was asked if he had something to say to his family members who had come to attend the match. However, it was a reply that no one would have expected.

“Not much at the moment,” he said during his post-match interview on June 5. “We still have a match to play on Sunday, and that’s what we’re here for, that’s what we’re focusing on. I want to play the best possible match and just focus on that.”

There were fans who had questioned Zverev’s response at that time as well, and the criticism only increased after his winning speech. While there was no shortage of people who were critical of Zverev for not mentioning his family members in his speech, others had a very different opinion on the matter.

Alexander Zverev’s French Open-winning speech leaves fans divided

One fan described Zverev’s speech as “appalling” and was left enraged with him for mentioning his physio over his grandmother. “Or his grandmother – appalling. I thought I might give him the benefit of the doubt, but that he mentions NO women in his life BUT his physio of two weeks – shameful.”

Another fan raised questions over Zverev’s relationship with his grandmother and felt that he doesn’t consider her as important. “His Grandmother was in his box. He should have said something. He gave her a lame hug as well. If he didn’t think she was important enough to mention, why was she in his box? Once a douche, always a douche.”

However, Zverev also found a lot of support over the debate, with one fan pointing out that the 29-year-old doesn’t talk a lot about his family members anyway. “Seriously? That’s all you have? He kept it to the professional team. He doesn’t like to talk about his private life of which they are a part. That’s nothing but hateful, biased talk.”

A fan also pointed out that Zverev only mentioned the people who had trained and helped him in winning the French Open. “He mentioned the people that helped train him to win the tournament.”

Finally, a fan pointed out the double standards towards Zverev and mentioned that Cobolli also didn’t make any mention of his girlfriend in his post-match speech. “I think he mentioned the people who were integral to his game. Cobolli did not mention his girlfriend. I see where this is going.”