Family was at the heart of Alexander Zverev's U.S. Open triumph on Monday 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.
The top seed beat American 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.
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.
"When 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 'my son will be whatever he wants to be'," Zverev said.
When 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 'my son will be whatever he wants to be'
"'If he wants to be a tennis player, he'll be a tennis player. If he wants to do something else, he'll do something else, but this illness will not define us'.
Zverev gave an emotional speech after winning the U.S. Open about his mom and how she helped him achieve his dreams despite struggling with diabetes
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) September 13, 2026
“I wanna thank one more person who’s never actually watching my matches but is the most important person in my tennis life and in… pic.twitter.com/xDIRIuvMf2
"I'm happy that we worked through it and we're doing the things that we're 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."
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 add to his Olympic gold medal from the Tokyo Games five years ago.
"We went almost 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title and now we've won two in a span of three months," Zverev said.
"I think God has seen how hard we've worked, how much we've suffered, how much pain we went through and I think that 2026 is the outcome of all the years that happened before."
