Alexander Zverev received a hero’s welcome as he returned to Germany after winning the French Open. The crowd at the Center Court of the Terra Wortmann Open was delighted in Halle as he entered the court. But a few fans immediately noticed a detail about the trophy he was holding, which enraged them, and social media was echoing similar sentiments.

Turns out that Zverev didn’t enter the arena with the original Musketeers trophy. Instead, he was given a replica that was way smaller than the actual trophy. It didn’t even look like a Grand Slam title at first glance. However, this isn’t the first time that the French Open champion has been given a replica instead of the original trophy. In fact, this is a long-standing tradition at Roland Garros.

The tournament is known to keep the original trophy with them for preservation, and the champions are always handed a replica for their keepsake. The trophy sits in the office of the president of the FFT and is only taken out to be handed to the champions before returning to the office. Every winner is only handed a replica made of a sheet of solid silver.

While the replica looks exactly the same as the original trophy, its extremely small size left many surprised. The original trophy weighs 14 kg, is 40 cm high and 19 cm wide, but the replica is much smaller, about one third of the original in all aspects. Coco Gauff, who won the French Open in 2025, compared the size of the replica trophy to a Perrier water bottle in a viral TikTok video. Only Rafael Nadal was handed a slightly bigger replica trophy for winning the 50th Open Era French Open in 2018.

After being honored by the tournament organizers, Zverev also held an autograph session for the fans in attendance. This ceremony was held a day before the Terra Wortmann Open kicked off. Zverev is set to begin the grass swing with the tournament and will have the home crowd behind him in all of his matches.

Notably, Zverev is participating in both the singles and doubles draws. He has formed a pair alongside his close friend Marcelo Melo, who had attended the French Open final a few days ago. The duo had even gone on to win the title at the Mexican Open in March. They are set to take on the pair of Zizou Bergs and Alexander Bublik in the first round.

On the other hand, Zverev’s singles campaign will begin on Tuesday with the clash against Vit Kopriva. The 29-year-old will be aiming to finally end his long wait for his first title at his home event. Though the local hero has frequently participated in the tournament, he has never been able to cross the finish line.

Zverev had previously made the final of the Terra Wortmann Open in 2016 and 2017 but had lost on both occasions. He had gotten close last year as well but was eliminated by Daniil Medvedev in the semis. The German will be brimming with confidence as he begins his grass swing and will be aiming to have another strong season.

While many of Zverev’s fans may have enjoyed the honoring ceremony in Halle, others were left dissatisfied with him not having the original French Open trophy with him. They expressed their disappointment about the same on social media.

Fans fume over the trophy replica provided to Alexander Zverev

One fan claimed that the trophy Zverev was holding in his hand was barely even visible to people in the crowd and opined that players should be given a bigger version of the title. “Can hardly see the replica. With all the money they can’t even give the players a life-sized trophy- what the hell are you lot doing with the money?”

Another one described the trophy as “disgusting” and questioned why Zverev was provided with it. “Sorry, but what the hell is that disgusting trophy?”

There was a fan who felt that Zverev himself would have a strong dislike towards the trophy replica. “I’d be irritated af if I got that small a** trophy in the mail.”

A fan called out the French Open organizers for not giving players bigger trophy replicas. “They have to give bigger replicas, man…This is embarrassing.”

Finally, a fan compared Zverev holding the small trophy replica to a scene from Netflix’s animated series, BoJack Horseman. “This reminds me of when Bojack Horseman won a Golden Globe and walked around with it like this.”

It remains to be seen if Zverev will be able to maintain his form and begin his campaign at the Terra Wortmann Open on a positive note.