"What does how she look have to do with Alexander Zverev abusing women?" - Fans slam 'body shaming' of Australian Open heckler as 'ugly & overweight'

Multiple pictures of the woman who heckled Alexander Zverev at the Australian Open made their way onto the internet. Shockingly, several tennis fans took nasty swipes at her over her appearance. This, in turn, led to others condemning such behavior.

On Sunday, January 26, just as 2025 Australian Open men's singles runner-up Alexander Zverev was about to start delivering his post-match speech, a woman in the crowd repeatedly shouted, "Australia believes Olya and Brenda!". The woman was referring to Olga 'Olya' Sharypova and Brenda Patea, two of Zverev's former partners who made domestic abuse allegations against the German.

The controversial incident polarized fans, with several siding with Alexander Zverev and many others lauding the woman. A particular fan of the ATP No. 2 later shared a picture of the woman in question on X and captioned the post:

"Why is it always the ugly and overweight ones 🤭"

This triggered a wave of criticism in the woman's direction, primarily based on her appearance. It didn't take long for other fans to counter this criticism. The latter group opined that body shaming her is completely out of order, irrespective of what she did at the 2025 Australian Open.

"What does how she look have to do with Zverev abusing women?" one fan asked.

"Body-shaming someone, even a heckler, doesn’t help the situation. Criticism should focus on the behaviour, not someone’s appearance. The heckler’s actions you might find were unnecessary but comments like “ugly & overweight” only fuel negativity," wrote one.

"Body shaming is not right, this level of conversation is really at the root of many many problems," another chimed in.

Others called out the fan whose post started it all.

"In terms of ugliness, your post wins. In terms of weight, her message has more depth, understanding and impact than yours," opined one fan.

"Your parents did a really bad job raising you," another added.

"You guys hate it when skinny, conventionally attractive women (Olya and Brenda) speak up too, so what exactly do you want?" questioned another fan.

Zverev himself was asked about the incident during his post-match press conference. The German responded rather sarcastically before suggesting he has moved on from the controversial allegations and doesn't want to address them again.

Zverev's alleged abuse of Brenda Patea, the mother of his daughter Mayla, was under intense media scrutiny. Patea had pressed formal charges against Zverev in 2023, but the German appealed against the charges, leading to a behind-closed-doors trial in a Berlin court last year. Ultimately, both parties agreed to an out-of-court settlement, with the court deeming the three-time Major finalist neither innocent nor guilty.

Meanwhile, tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg, who was in attendance for the final between Zverev and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, tried to talk to the woman who heckled the German in the aftermath of the incident. However, things didn't go according to plan for the journalist, as he later laid bare via his Bounces substack.

Journalist Ben Rothenberg claims interference from an "aggressive security guard" during an attempt to reach out to Alexander Zverev's Australian Open heckler

Alexander Zverev (Source: Getty)

Ben Rothenberg, a prominent tennis journalist who narrated the allegations against Alexander Zverev by Olga 'Olya' Sharypova via two articles, attended the 2024 Australian Open men's singles final. According to Rothenberg, he tried to approach Alexander Zverev's heckler after the controversial incident. However, the journalist claimed that security prevented an interaction between them.

"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," Rothenberg wrote in his Bounces substack.

Later, Rothenberg alleged that police personnel removed the heckler from the Rod Laver Arena.

"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," he added.

Ben Rothenberg's work on covering Olga 'Olya' Sharypova's allegations has landed him in legal trouble with Alexander Zverev, who filed a defamation lawsuit against the journalist. While Rothenberg shared an update related to the hearing of the lawsuit in December last year, nothing has been said about it since then.