\n
<\/p>\n
NEW YORK: Family was at the \u200cheart of Alexander Zverev\u2019s US Open triumph on Sunday as the German saluted the members of his inner circle and paid a heartfelt tribute to his mother for refusing to let diabetes define his future.<\/p>\n
The top seed beat \u200bAmerican Ben Shelton 6-3 7-6(2) 5-7 6-2 at Flushing Meadows to finish a spectacular year at the Grand Slams in which he proved his doubters wrong by going from perennial nearly man to two-time major champion.<\/p>\n
Shortly after his victory, Zverev reserved special praise for his mother Irina, a former professional tennis player, and credited her with ensuring type 1 diabetes never limited his ambitions in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen your 4-year-old son is diagnosed with diabetes and doctors in the office tell you that life and sports will be very limited for that child, it takes a very strong mother to say \u2018my \u200cson will be \u200cwhatever he wants to be\u2019,\u201d Zverev said.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019If he wants to be \u200ba \u200ctennis \u2060player, he\u2019ll \u200bbe \u2060a tennis player. If he wants to do something else, he\u2019ll do something else, but this illness will not define us\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m happy that we worked through it and we\u2019re doing the things that we\u2019re doing now. My mother is the most important and strongest person I know because it takes an unbelievably strong woman to do what she did.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 29-year-old thanked his team, which includes his father Alexander Zverev Sr and his brother Mischa, for their hard work that had delivered him another Grand Slam trophy to \u2060add to his Olympic gold medal from the Tokyo Games five years \u200cago.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe went almost 30 years without winning a Grand Slam \u200ctitle and now we\u2019ve won two in a span of three \u200bmonths,\u201d Zverev said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think God has seen how \u200chard we\u2019ve worked, how much we\u2019ve suffered, how much pain we went through and I \u200cthink that 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before.\u201d<\/p>\n
SCARS OF 2020<\/strong><\/p>\n Zverev had come agonizingly close to capturing his maiden Grand Slam title in New York in 2020, leading Dominic Thiem by two sets to none and later serving for the match in the fifth set before losing.<\/p>\n He finally won his first major \u200ccrown at this year\u2019s French Open after defeating Flavio Cobolli in five sets, and the German doubled his tally in New York despite making \u2060a shaky start to \u2060the fortnight.<\/p>\n He also reached the Wimbledon final this year, falling to Jannik Sinner in four sets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe scars of the 2020 (US Open) final, they disappeared after I won in Paris. I said at Wimbledon, though I lost in the final, I enjoyed the match … enjoyed playing on Center Court in front of an amazing crowd,\u201d Zverev said.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore winning in Paris, I felt a lot of stress all the time, because there was always a question mark. \u2018Will I ever win one?\u2019 Now it\u2019s more of a joy to play those kinds of finals.\u201d<\/p>\n With Sinner sidelined by a knee injury and Carlos Alcaraz having just returned from a wrist problem, Zverev reluctantly accepted that he was the man to beat in men\u2019s tennis after a strong finish to the Grand Slam season.<\/p>\n \u201cFour or five months \u200bago, when both of them were healthy, I \u200bwasn\u2019t. I was losing to Jannik all the time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if everyone is healthy, Jannik is still ahead. It\u2019s as simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n