Full Trophy Presentation | Alexander Zverev is Crowned Champion | 2026 US Open

Joining us on stage on behalf of presenting sponsor J.P. Morgan please welcome the head of global markets at J.P. Morgan Pranav Thakur. To begin our trophy celebration we'd like to recognize our chair umpire for tonight's final and ask Mariana Veljevic to please step onto the stage. On behalf of the USTA Brian Behaly will present Mariana with a gift from the tournament. Thank you and well done. Now we'd like to invite our finalists Ben Shelton. To come on stage. Congratulations Ben. You've had an amazing two weeks here. Congratulations on making your first and certainly not your last major final. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Yeah well first first and most importantly I want to thank God. My successes are a gift. The failures are a gift and being here playing in front of you guys is a gift. Sasha. Congrats on these two weeks man. Your second grand slam title two in one year. You. You're one of the very best players in the world maybe the best player in the world this year. What you're doing is incredible the way you're serving the way you're moving and playing. You work harder than anyone I know you put more hours on the court than anyone I know you and your team do things the right way and sincerely happy for you guys to hold this title. It's been a long time coming here. I want to thank my team. I have I got the best support team in the business. You know to do this with my family by my side these four guys over here who dedicate their life to my career spending time traveling the world with me. It's an unmatched level of commitment. I appreciate you guys to my squad over here in this corner. Every one of you guys is so special in your own way. You guys showed up to to support me and have showed up to support me every day of my career. I appreciate you guys. Love you guys. To the USTA. You guys have done it again put put together an amazing tournament my favorite tournament of the year the greatest tournament in the world Craig the new CEO. Congratulations on the new position that you've changed this game in many ways and you're just getting started. We're so happy to have you and thanks for everything that you've done here already. Eric tournament director. Thank you as well. You guys commitment to Americans American success running this tournament to be the greatest in the world is is unbelievable. So thank you all everyone at the USTA. I want to thank the sponsors all the sponsors for making this tournament possible. All the volunteers the drivers my driver my driver Xavier is up there somewhere. I appreciate you X. You're the man to the umpires ball kids everyone at the practice desk all the security guards who make me smile every day. This this is my happy place. This is the place that I love to spend time and I wish this tournament never ended. So thank you all. I want to thank my sponsors everyone behind the scenes who supported me along the way believed in me. We still have a long way to go but I'm very appreciative of everyone who's had my back from the beginning. And lastly to the city of New York to the fans who showed up today the fans at home the people who've been here all week the people who stayed till four in the morning you guys drove me you guys brought me to the place that I'm here today. The position that I want to be in in the finals of these tournaments. I'm just getting started and I'll be back here again. Thank you so much. Thank you Ben. And now Brian Bailey will present the finalist trophy to Ben Shelton. Well done Ben. And it is now time to invite our champion to the stage. Alexander Zverev. Sasha you've waited a little bit for this one this moment and the microphone. It's all yours. Yeah. Very first thing I want to start off with with Ben. Ben you're an incredible player incredible person. This was your first Grand Slam final but I already told you you're going to be back here many many more times. And if I would have to bet all my money on it I would bet that you would lift this trophy one day. Then I want to thank I don't want to think I want to wish you congratulations. Sorry I can't talk. We played for four hours. I want to say well done to Ben's team to Brian to everybody who's there to pops. I think to mom and sister as well. I think everybody is just as important over there as they are on this side of the court. I know it's a it's exactly what what my family is and that's why I'm so happy to see you guys in these kind of finals. I'm so happy to see you guys win masters events and big tournament because I know that it's a family affair and everybody is pulling on the same strings to be successful. So correlations to you correlations to mom to sister to everyone who is there because you guys really deserve it. In Trinity I thought you have a game today. No well done to you as well. You're the lucky charm. So I'm happy not not today but usually then I want to thank my team. We went we went 30 years without winning a Grand Slam title and now we want to win a span of three months. So it's I think I think God has seen how hard we worked how much we suffered how much pain we went through. And I think 2026 is the outcome of all the years that that happened before. So thank you guys. You guys are absolutely amazing and couldn't couldn't be here without you guys. Then I want to thank actually one more person who is never actually watching my matches but is the most important person in my tennis life and in my life in general because when your four year old son gets diagnosed with diabetes and doctors in the office tell you that life and sports will be very very limited for that child. It takes a very very strong mother to walk out of those offices and to say my son my 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 you do something else but this illness will not define us and I'm happy that that we work through it and we're doing things that we're doing right now and my my mother is my mother is the most important and the strongest person I know because it takes an unbelievably strong woman to to do what she did. So thanks to her as well. Then I want to thank everyone who worked in this tournament this year and I am sorry that I was the reason that a lot of you guys went to bed at 4 or 5 a.m. this year. I was two points away from losing in the first round. I'm very happy that I won that match because there would have been a different outcome otherwise. And I want to thank the ball boys I want to thank the people that were behind the scenes I want to thank the drivers I want to thank everyone who works in the restaurant everybody who stayed up late just for us. And it's it's not it's really appreciated by everyone and I want to thank them as well. Then Eric first year as a turn director so correlations to you for putting up such an amazing event. I'm sorry it's the wrong winner this year but I yeah I did my job but thank you very much. And you did amazing Craig for those of you that you don't know Craig Talley has been a turn director in the Australian Open for the past 25 years and he decided to move to New York which we as players were not very happy about because he made the Australian Open the best tournament in the world. But from now on I think the US Open will probably be the best tournament in the world since you're here. So thank you. Thank you for moving here. Thank you for being here. Move back to Australia for like three months and then come back end of January. That would be great. But no it's it's really I think the best hire that the USDA could have done and well done for putting up such an amazing event the first year. The last but not least the crowds. I know that that today ninety nine point nine percent of the player the people wanted them to win. So I'm very sorry. First of all but second it was an incredible atmosphere to play and even though I know that the crowds was against me the crowd was always incredibly fair and we as players we appreciate it. You guys brought the energy you guys brought the noise and we really thank you guys for that. I think I talked to enough. So thank you and see you next year. You're not done yet. On behalf of the presenting sponsor JP Morgan we'd like to invite Pernod the Kurd to present Sasha with a check for five point five million dollars. All right. And last but certainly not least the legend himself Jimmy Connors will present the champion's trophy. Come on up Jimmy. Your twenty twenty six U.S. Open men's singles champion Alexander Sparrow. Long thoughts from both players both thanking their teams their parents for getting them here to this moment. But Robby you can see just how disappointed Ben Sheldon is in the results here today. Can you. You certainly can marry. It's supposed to hurt because he cares so much. Yeah. And it'll be richer for the experience no doubt about it. But I also loved how much respect and how much credit they gave their families for being in the position that they are today. We know behind the scenes a father son relationship in professional tennis is not an easy one. But I think both of the families and parents have done such a good job of coaching him and of course in the early days it was his mom Marina who always is in the shadow. She's here but it's never front and center. She'll be in the play lounge most days. I see her taking care of the dogs. She was the one who used to coach him at the old and horse hockey club where he was a great hockey player and had to choose between tennis and hockey. And I remember saying the same.