Shouts in the Silence
A protestor at the Australian Open trophy ceremony foregrounded the accusations against Alexander Zverev like never before. Here's what happened to her afterward.
MELBOURNE, Australia — Midway through the trophy ceremony following the Australian Open men’s singles final—in which Jannik Sinner beat Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 without facing a single break point—emcee Todd Woodbridge called the runner-up to the podium to accept his plate and address the crowd in Rod Laver Arena.
Zverev, who fell to 0-3 in major finals after his most lopsided loss in a major final, had appeared to be in tears in the moments before the ceremony started and was comforted by Sinner. After giving him a round of applause as he walked onto the stage, the crowd fell silent in anticipation of Zverev’s remarks.
But before Zverev could speak, a woman’s voice rang out from midway up the seating bowl with a repeated refrain:
“Australia believes Olya and Brenda! Australia believes Olya and Brenda! Australia believes Olya and Brenda!”
A Brief Summary of ‘Olya and Brenda’:
The Australian woman who made herself heard during the trophy ceremony was saying her country believes Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea, the two long-term girlfriends of Zverev’s who both made accusations against Zverev of patterns of domestic violence and emotional abuse during their respective relationships with him.
Zverev has made repeated denials to the allegations made by each woman.
Here are reminders of how each of their two cases unfolded.
Olya Sharypova
Olga “Olya” Sharypova, a Russian who first made her accusations in October 2020 about incidents she said took place in late 2019. Sharypova first wrote of abuse in an Instagram post (without initially naming Zverev) and then identified him and described their relationship in a series of interviews with Russian media, CNN, and then myself. Sharypova was insistent in our interviews that she did not want to seek justice through a criminal or civil proceeding, but rather that she wanted her story to be heard by women who might be in similar situations to the one she described.
After my second interview with Sharypova was published in Slate in August 2021, the ATP announced an investigation into the accusations against Zverev in October 2021. An end to that investigation was announced in February 2023, neither confirming nor refuting Sharypova’s accusations, but saying that they found “insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse.”
The report made by the investigators who were commissioned by the ATP has never been made public.
Zverev challenged Slate’s publication of certain passages—Sharypova’s specific descriptions of abuse—in a German court. The German court declared the publication of these statements inadmissible because it violated Zverev's general right of personality, and as a result the article has been geoblocked in Europe.
Brenda Patea
Brenda Patea began dating Zverev after Sharypova, but before Sharypova had made her accusations public. Unlike Sharypova, who had chosen public statements over the legal system, Patea quietly took her story to German authorities in October 2021, centering her report around an incident she said took place in May 2020.
Patea’s case moved very slowly through the legal system in Berlin; it wasn’t until two years later, October 2023, that a penalty order was issued against Zverev for €450,000. “For lesser crimes in Germany, a penalty order can be issued when a judge believes the case is straightforward and doesn't warrant a trial,” German broadcaster Deutsche Welle explained.
When Zverev appealed the penalty order, a hearing was arranged for May-June of 2024, coinciding with last year’s French Open. On the Friday before Zverev played in the French Open final, a settlement was reached to discontinue the proceedings without an admission of guilt by Zverev. In exchange for the discontinuation, Zverev agreed to pay a fee of €200,000 (€150,000 to the government and €50,000 to charities).
Terms of a separate, simultaneous agreement reached between Zverev and Patea have not been disclosed by either party. Patea had given birth to the couple’s daughter in 2021 after their separation, which has added a custody and child support element to their case.
What Happened After the Shouting on Sunday:
As anyone who is on social media will know, there is still anger, distaste, resentment, and antipathy harbored toward Zverev—and toward the tennis powers-that-be for their handling of his cases—by many in reaction to Sharypova and Patea’s stories. Even more than four years after the first accusations were made public, those are persistent sentiments, as I discussed a couple days ago here.
Before Sunday night’s incident, there had never been a public protest of Zverev at one of his matches or anywhere at a tennis tournament, at least not one that so effectively captured attention as the one during the Australian Open trophy ceremony.
Disruptions by protestors have been common during Australian Open men’s singles finals in years past, but usually focused on a non-tennis topic like climate change or the treatment of refugees in Australia.
The woman who shouted about the accusations against Zverev had been two sections over from where the media seats are in Rod Laver Arena. When I saw her being escorted out, I left the seating bowl to try to find her, hoping to learn who she was and what had motivated her to call out. I also wanted to know what was happening to her because of the disruption she had caused, and to see where tournament staff were taking her.
I found her quickly, just inside the main entrance of Rod Laver Arena, surrounded by several security guards.
Unsurprisingly given her stated area of interest, she recognized me when she saw me, and asked me to stay nearby to see what was happening to her as she seemed understandably anxious and overwhelmed. I had never seen her before, but was still eager to speak with her to learn more about her, and to see how the tournament would treat her.
An aggressive security guard, however, came between us and told me to back away. He told me to stop typing on my phone, and then repeatedly asked me to move further and further away from this woman, continually telling me to move further back meter by meter. He asked me repeatedly to leave the entrance area and return to the seating bowl, but I wanted to keep the woman in my eyeline until I knew what her fate would be. He also photographed my accreditation as well as the accreditation of another journalist who arrived a few minutes later, and reported my presence there to Tennis Australia.
A few minutes later, two uniformed police officers arrived and spoke to the woman. After a few minutes of conversation, they gave her paperwork and escorted her out of the arena. As she was leaving she told me her name, and that she was being “evicted” from the premises.
I told her to message me, and she said she would; as of time of publication I have not yet heard from her.
Tennis Australia declined to comment on the incident to Bounces.
Victoria Police have not yet responded to a request for further information on the incident at time of publication. [UPDATE: Victoria Police told Bounces that “no arrests were made by police,” directing back to Tennis Australia for further information.]
I will update this story as any new information comes to light.
Zverev did not respond to the woman’s comments during his runner-up speech, but Tumaini Carayol of The Guardian asked Zverev about the incident in his post-loss press conference, and also asked what he would say to others who still believe the women’s stories:
Carayol: “Before your speech someone shouted out, ‘Australia believes Olya and Brenda.’ What is your reaction to that? What is your response to people who believe the domestic violence accusations against you?”
Zverev: “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. 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.”
If early social media reactions to the moment are any indication, the woman is not “the only one” who believes or still cares about these women and their stories.
And on that unexpected last note, thank you for following Bounces and supporting the journalism here, both during the 2025 Australian Open and beyond! -Ben
What a brave woman! If she is facing charges, I hope she starts a GoFundMe (if available in Australia) so I can donate to it. Thank you so much for keeping us updated on this, she has restarted a much-needed conversation about the tennis world's incredibly awkward approach to Zverev.
Wow to both her and you, and to the AO for running interference for this choad. I'm frankly too disgusted by men's tennis to keep watching it. During this tournament, the AO social media promoted Alexs new relationship with cutesy posts. What the F are they doing? What are the people running socials for Roland Garros doing? They, like AO, not only promote Zverev, they posted their reassurances to him that he'd win one day, that he's so deserving and good and true. (These were instagram posts from official accounts). Again, what are we doing, here? We also saw Sinner and Djoko with effusive praise for this guy. I don't get it, I never will.