Olympic tennis champion Alexander Zverev had a bad whim. After his double defeat at the ATP Championships in Acapulco, the German lost his composure and poured his wrath on the referee’s chair. Afternoon publicly apologized.
The ATP immediately excluded the German. In the tiebreak, the Zverev/Marcelo Melo (Brazil) duo lost 2:6, 6:4 and 6:10 to Lloyd Glasspool (Great Britain) and Harry Heliovara (Finland). Even with the rally shortly before the end, there was a verbal argument between Zverev, who saw the ball off limits, and the referee.
Zverev shouted loudly at the judgement (“You damned fool” – you damned fool). A short time later, she lost her first round match and when he left the field, Zverev hit the referee’s chair several times with his racket, losing both of his feet.
The ATP responded immediately and excluded the 24-year-old, who was named Germany’s Athlete of the Year last year, from the tournament in Acapulco. This means that Zverev will not be able to compete individually.
The day before, German top seed Jenson Broxby had defeated American Jenson Broxby 3:6, 7:6 (12:10) in a historic night shift just before 5 a.m. local time, bringing him to the last 16. No tour-level match has ended late. Munich’s Peter Gojowczyk benefits from Zverev’s elimination and automatically becomes one more roll.
Zverev apologizes: ‘It’s hard to describe with words’
In the afternoon, Zverev apologized in the form of a Statement via Instagram. “It is difficult to describe in words the extent of my regret for my behavior during and after my husband yesterday,” he wrote. He had already personally apologized to the ruling chair. His behavior was “wrong and unacceptable”.
“I am disappointed in myself. It should not have happened and there is no excuse,” Zverev wrote. “I also want to apologize to my fans, the tournament and the sport I love.”
Zverev stressed that he always gives everything on the field, but “yesterday it was clearly too much.” He wants to use the coming days to reflect on his behavior and make sure that such a panic does not happen again in the future. Zverev: “I’m sorry I disappointed you.”
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