Alexander Zverev will ‘reflect’ on his violent reaction at the Mexican Open | Other Sports | sports

The German Alexander Zverev, current Olympic champion, was expelled from the Mexican Tennis Open, that is disputed in the resort of Acapulco, for its violent reaction on Tuesday at the end of a game of doubles of second round, announced this Wednesday the ATP.

“Due to unsportsmanlike conduct At the conclusion of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev has been withdrawn from the tournament in Acapulco,” the men’s tennis governing body tweeted.

Annoyed by the performance of a referee, Zverev hit his racket against the judge’s chair at the end of the match that he lost together with the Brazilian Marcelo Melo against the duo formed by the British Lloyd Glasspool and the Finnish Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 4-6 and 10-6.

The second blow was about to hit the judge’s right foot. Zverev sat on his bench for a moment, then got up again to go to the referee and yell at him and to give a new racket stroke to his chair.

“There are no excuses” for his behavior and the way he called out the referee is “unacceptable”, Zverev apologized24, on his Instagram account a few hours after his expulsion from the tournament, in which he was defending the title he won in 2021.

“It’s hard to put into words how sorry I am for my behavior. during and after yesterday’s doubles match,” he wrote. sasha. “I apologized privately to the chair umpire because my outburst towards him was wrong and unacceptable.”

Zverev He was due to play his second-round singles match this Wednesday against his compatriot Peter Gojowczyk, who after the decision of the ATP advances directly to the quarterfinals.

The German, third in the world ranking, had won early Tuesday in the first round against the American Jenson Brooksby 3-6, 7-6 (12/10) and 6-2 in a game that ended at 04:54 local time (10:54 GMT), the latest in the history of professional tennis, after a duration of three hours and 19 minutes of play.

In addition to his exclusion from the Acapulco tournament, Zverev could receive additional sanctions under the ATP disciplinary code.

Reflection

Zverev said he would reflect on his behavior.. “As you know, he left everything on the pitch,” the German wrote. “Yesterday I left too much. I’m going to take the next few days to reflect on my actions And how can I make sure it doesn’t happen again?

His behavior quickly became a topic of conversation in the tennis world. After losing to Jannik Sinner at the Dubai Open on Wednesday, Briton and former world number one Andy Murray was asked about Zverev’s behaviour.

“Was not good. It was dangerous, reckless,” Murray responded.

“Obviously I understand that many players, athletes in many sports, can be very frustrated. Certainly, myself, I haven’t always acted the way I’d like on the court. I certainly don’t claim to be an angel.”

However, Murray continued, “you obviously can’t be pointing your tennis racket at the umpire multiple times.”

Zverev is no stranger to controversy. The ATP is still investigating him over allegations of violence against a former girlfriend. He denies the accusation.

In June 2020, he was criticized for partying in a bar, when he had promised to isolate himself for two weeks, after competing in a tournament organized by Novak Djokovic with the presence of the public, against medical advice on the covid-19 pandemic. Several players, including Djokovic, have contracted the disease. (D)