A woman who heckled Alexander Zverev during the Australian Open final has received cruel abuse online. The individual was marched out of the Rod Laver Arena after staging a protest against the German, who lost the match against Jannik Sinner.

As Zverev approached the microphone to conduct his post-match interview, the woman shouted: “Australia believes Olya and Brenda! Australia believes Olya and Brenda!”

She was referencing allegations of domestic abuse made against Zverev by two of his former partners, Olya Sharypova and Brenda Patea. The tennis player, 27, has always denied the allegations.

He did not address the heckle at the time but later said in a press conference: “Good for her (the heckler). I think she was the only one in the stadium who believed anything.”

Pictures of the heckler were soon shared on social media. She was subsequently subjected to horrendous trolling, including body shaming.

“She should look to exercise instead of shouting idiotic remarks at Sascha,” one X user said.

Another posted: “Wokists in general, but wokist women in particular, have a real problem with men, they systematically see evil in them.”

“She certainly wasn’t going to risk being thrown out before she could enjoy the brilliant match,” another user added. “She waited until after the match to hurl her abuse.”

Further vile comments were posted.

The woman, who has remained unnamed, has since explained why she made the protest. “I was sitting on his player’s box end of the court. All night, people were cheering, ‘Sascha! Sascha! Sascha!’ It was gross,” she told tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg.

“He may try to bully people - ATP, journos, whomever - into quashing the story. But I wanted him to know that tennis fans know and we care about those women. And we f***ing believe them.

“I wanted Sascha to sit in his own discomfort, [to know] that we will not forget, even if he wants to brush it aside. And as an Eastern European woman who grew up in an abusive environment supported by the power of silence in ‘household matters’, I wanted my voice to be heard.”

There is no evidence that Zverev has attempted to quash media reporting over the allegations.

In 2023, it was confirmed that there was insufficient evidence to support claims made by Sharypova three years earlier, and that Zverev would face no punishment. He described the allegations as “baseless”.

Separate allegations made by Patea went to a German court last May. The case was settled, with the court telling the BBC: “The decision is not a verdict and it is not a decision about guilt or innocence.

“One decisive factor for the court decision was that the witness has expressed her wish to end the trial. The defendant agreed to the termination of the case.”