Alexander Zverev has had a tough season this year both on and off the court. The German entered Roland Garros as a top contender for the Musketeers Trophy. However, it slipped through his grasp at the end moment, as he lost the finale to Carlos Alcaraz. This was not all, as behind the scenes he had another battle lined up in Germany. Zverev’s ex-girlfriend filed a domestic abuse case against him, which was to proceed at the same time as the French Open. In a twist of fate, both came to an end simultaneously, albeit the latter with a penalty.

Journalist Jonathan Crane, who covered the court proceedings of Zverev’s case, opened up about the much-talked settlement of the case by the German on the No Challenges Remaining podcast hosted by Ben Rothenberg and Courtney Nguyen. Crane discussed the $218,000 settlement amount, which, according to common perception, is assumed to be for Brenda Patea. But Crane debunks that apparent myth.

Starting from the initial facts of the case being brought to the court, he explained the prosecutor’s thought process behind the case and the settlement hence reached. He said, “The prosecutor believes he has a case, right? Otherwise, they wouldn’t be here. So the prosecutor is essentially saying, ‘Okay, I think I’ve got a case, but in order for it to be stopped, this is what I require’.” Crane further explained the costs involved during the case, which are yet to be confirmed and do not make up any part of this ~$ 200,000.

He added, “And that’s, you know, this difficulty is not a fine – it’s a fee- almost, yeah, court costs are probably broad, because the kind of legal fees and things like that, that’s still to be decided, by the way, and then that won’t be anywhere near as much as 100,000 Euro, much lower in terms of who pays what, because this was discontinued, that still to be decided.” Hence the next question that arises is, what is this amount for, and who is getting what out of the fine amount?

Crane further explained that the amount would be split between the state and the charity in the Euro denomination. This is the fine to discontinue the case. He said, “So this 200,000 Euro payment, 150,000 has gone to the state, 50,000 has gone to charity, that’s basically just a condition, a monetary condition, monetary charge, whatever you want to call it, for the prosecutor and the judge to say, ‘Okay, we’ll discontinue the case, then.’ And that’s what I wanted to be clear about because some people wrongly think that 200,000 euros went to Brenda Patea. They didn’t.”

It’s good news for the German ace, that he won’t have to focus his attention on the court case as he prepares for Paris Olympics. However, things could have been different had he opted to go for trial instead of the settlement and discontinuation.

Beyond Settlement: Crane examines Zverev’s legal options

Crane smashed the popular opinion of other parties in the court case gaining a monetary advantage through his careful choice of words. He was particular about mentioning costs, legal fees, and any other related payment that could be misinterpreted. He elaborates on his thought process of leveraging careful vocabulary while narrating the further proceedings.

“That’s kind of why initially, I wanted to use the word court costs, as is just basically, you know, costs imposed by the court, but it’s, it’s not legal fees. And I think some people were saying, you know, looking at all the comments and stuff on social media, some people were saying, Oh, well, you know, he would have had to pay that anyway.” However, there were other options to choose from, other than discontinuing the case and paying up the settlement.

The German ace could have gone to trial and escaped paying up the costs had he been acquitted by the court. Crane explained the other road that Zverev didn’t take, “No, he wouldn’t have if, if he if he had gone through? And if the trial continued, and if he’d had been acquitted, he would not have had to pay a penny. Yeah. And I think it’s important to make that clear.”

The German went through his French Open campaign with testimonies clashing simultaneously. And with the case now off Zverev’s plate, he can focus on over turning his French Open upset, at Wimbledon and Paris Olympics