Tennis champion Alexander Zverev, Roland-Garros favorite, tried for domestic violence in Berlin

No personal appearance has been ordered for the player, who said he wanted to concentrate on Roland-Garros.

Alexander Zverev, who brought down icon Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, will be tried on appeal on Friday May 31 for domestic violence in Berlin (Germany). The player is accused of having, in May 2020 in Berlin, “physically abused a woman during an argument and harmed her health”, according to the court. Alexander Zverev is accused of “choked his partner at the time with both hands in the stairwell of a Berlin building”.

Fourth player in the world, the 27-year-old German is contesting a first instance judgment which fined him 450,000 euros in October 2023 for “assault” against a former partner. Eight court dates are scheduled between now and July.

No personal appearance has been ordered for Alexander Zverev, who said at the end of last week that he wanted to concentrate on Roland-Garros. “I have faith in the German justice system. I believe in the truth. I know what I did and what I didn’t do. There is absolutely no chance that I will lose.” the trial, added the German player.

The legal proceedings do not mention the name of the complainant. But the player’s lawyers indicated in October that it was his former partner Brenda Patea, who was invited by the court to testify on the first day of the appeal trial.

Furthermore, in January 2023, due to lack of sufficient evidence, the ATP, which manages the men’s professional tennis circuit, closed a separate investigation targeting him into allegations of domestic violence emanating from another ex-partner, Olga Sharypova.

The ATP, which originally opened this investigation in 2021, considered that the charges were insufficient to go further. This Russian player had claimed on social networks that Alexander Zverev had “tried to strangle him with a pillow, bang his head against the wall and twist his arms”. However, she did not take legal action.