(Acapulco) The ATP has excluded the German Alexander Zverev (3and world singles) of the Acapulco tennis tournament for repeatedly hitting the referee’s chair with his racket after a doubles loss on Tuesday, an extremely rare decision.
Posted at 7:13 a.m.
“Due to his unsportsmanlike behavior at the end of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev has been expelled from the Acapulco tournament,” the governing body of the men’s professional circuit announced on its Twitter account ATP Media Info.
The 24-year-old was due to play his 2 on Wednesdayand singles round against compatriot Peter Gojowczyk, after winning his match of 1er round against American Jenson Brooksby at 4:54 a.m. Monday night, the latest match in professional tennis history.
On Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev came off his feet after his doubles match lost in the super tiebreaker with Brazilian Marcelo Melo against Briton Lloyd Glasspool and Finland’s Harri Heliövaara 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 .
In the video footage, Zverev is seen hitting referee Alessandro Germani’s chair three times, sitting down and then getting up to insult him and giving a final racquet kick just under the official’s foot, as he got down from his chair.
Beyond his exclusion from the Acapulco tournament, the German, Olympic champion in Tokyo in singles and winner of the last Masters, could be sanctioned more heavily according to the ATP disciplinary code.
McEnroe or Djokovic before him
“If the First Vice-President, Rules and Competitions, determines that this was an infraction particularly detrimental to the proper conduct of the tournament or detrimental to the integrity of the sport, he may consider additional sanctions (fines or suspensions)”, specifies the ATP in this disciplinary code.
Player suspensions for bad behavior are very rare in professional tennis.
A few big names have suffered this fate during a match, however: American John McEnroe was disqualified at the 1990 Australian Open for insulting the referee and Australian Nick Kyrgios in Rome in 2019 for throwing a chair at the court.
Serbian Novak Djokovic was ejected from the court at the US Open 2020 for unintentionally hitting a ball in the direction of a linesman. Canadian Denis Shapovalov had experienced a similar mishap when his ball hit French chair umpire Arnaud Gabas in the 2017 Davis Cup. As for the Argentinian David Nalbandian, he had been deprived of the end of the final of the Queen’s 2012, for having involuntarily injured a linesman.
Zverev is also the subject of an investigation opened by the ATP into allegations of domestic violence made against him by his ex-partner.
In June 2020, he was also criticized for partying in a bar full of people, when he promised to isolate himself for 14 days after participating in the Adria Tour, an exhibition tournament with an audience and without distancing. organized by Novak Djokovic during which several players including the world No.1 had been infected with COVID-19.
This edition of the Acapulco tournament was the scene of another unusual incident on Tuesday evening: John Millman had to give up after being shot in the eye.
The Australian preferred to smile by posting a photo on his Instagram account where we see him with a plaster on the eye touched involuntarily and accompanied by the mention: “You must always watch the ball”.