After winning his second Grand Slam of the year at the US Open, Alexander Zverev took a moment in his victory speech to acknowledge Ben Shelton’s girlfriend, Trinity Rodman. While the gesture was completely harmless, it took a different turn online, with a section of fans accusing him of inappropriately flirting with another player’s girlfriend. When asked about the backlash this week at the Laver Cup photoshoot, the German did not mince his words. 

“No. No. No. Definitely not,” he said. “I love Ben. I love his father. I love his whole family. I like Trinity quite a lot. No, I think whoever thinks that I was flirting or anything like that are idiots.”

Rodman is a forward for the Washington Spirit in the NWSL, and she had a match of her own to play that same day against Boston Legacy before making the roughly 200-mile trip north to New York, hoping to catch Shelton’s first Grand Slam final. She only made it to Arthur Ashe Stadium by the end of the fourth set, appearing in Shelton’s player box just as the match was wrapping up.

Zverev noticed her arrival and, in his on-court speech after beating Shelton 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2, pointed her out and joked that being Shelton’s “lucky charm” hadn’t quite worked out that day.

The comment came after Zverev had already tried to defuse the situation once before, praising the effort Rodman made to get to the final at all. 

“But then she played the game, from what I understood, she played the game and then came over to support, which is an unbelievable effort and a credit to her for doing that,” he said in his press conference at the time, adding that he was “a bit surprised” to see her in the stands given everything she had to do to get there.

His mention of Shelton’s father was not insignificant either. Moments after the final ended, Zverev walked straight over to Shelton’s coaching box, which included his father and coach Bryan Shelton, and shared a warm embrace along with what appeared to be heartfelt words. Shelton reciprocated the gesture by crossing the court and giving a hug to Zverev’s team, which included Zverev’s father and brother Mischa. Sportsmanship was at its best on both sides, despite the sting of a first Grand Slam final defeat.

Alexander Zverev- The most experienced Laver Cup player in history

Sascha Zverev prepares for his seventh Laver Cup appearance, the most of any player in the event’s history. He has a 9-7 overall win-loss record over six tournaments and is the top scorer in the tournament’s history with 21 points to his name. 

Shelton has withdrawn from the event this year to manage workload after playing a Davis Cup tie against Czechia. Team USA lost 3-2, with Shelton losing both of his matches to Jiri Lehecka and Jakub Mensik. Another American’s has replaced him in Team World, Brandon Nakashima, making his Laver Cup debut. 

Last year’s edition in San Francisco did not go Zverev’s way individually either, with the German losing both of his singles rubbers, falling to Alex de Minaur and Taylor Fritz in straight sets as Team World romped to a 15-9 win overall. He will be looking to reverse that trend this weekend in London, where Team Europe is hoping to close the gap on a rivalry Team World has now won three of the last four editions.