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US Open runner-up Alexander Zverev pays tribute to parents, who tested positive for COVID-19

NEW YORK — Alexander Zverev, a 23-year-old German and one of the best tennis players on the planet, had a brutal Sunday night in the men's championship match at the U.S. Open. It wasn’t just that he lost a two-set lead, or that he had his first Grand Slam title on his racket when he served for the title in the fifth set against his friend, Dominic Thiem of Austria.

It wasn’t even that he was two points from hoisting a trophy at 6-6 in the first fifth-set tiebreaker to determine the Open championship.

It was that the two people who had loved him and nurtured him, who made it possible for him to be in such a position, could not be there with him.

"There's some special people missing in the crowd today," Zverev said, his voice quavering, his tears flowing, during his runner-up speech. "I want to thank my parents. They're always with me in every single tournament I go to and unfortunately my dad and my mother tested positive before the tournament and they couldn't have gone with me.”

Alexander Zverev gets emotional while accepting his runner-up prize at the U.S. Open.
Alexander Zverev gets emotional while accepting his runner-up prize at the U.S. Open.

In a press conference later, Zverev spoke with disappointment about the outcome of the match against Thiem, but with relief about his parents.

“They're fine,” he said. "They're actually negative already. (The positive tests are) the reason they didn't come here. Losing 7-6 in the fifth after being two sets to love and a break up is not easy. At the speech, I got emotional. I couldn't put two words together. I don't actually remember what I said. It was a difficult moment for me."

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Follow Wayne Coffey on Twitter @wr_coffey.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alexander Zverev's parents missed US Open due to positive COVID tests