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Defending champion Alexander Zverev has been ‘withdrawn’ from the singles draw of the Mexican Open for unsportsmanlike behaviour and joins a growing list of players who have been disqualified from tournaments over the past few decades.
You f****** destroyed the whole f****** match. The whole f****** match Alexander Zverev
In Zverev’s case, the ATP announced his departure from their Tour 500 event in a statement which said: “Due to unsportsmanlike conduct at the conclusion of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev has been withdrawn from the tournament in Acapulco.”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 actual incident occurred at the end of his 2-6 6-4 10-6 doubles loss with Brazilian Marcelo Melo to Finn Harri Heliovaara and Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool when he basically attacked the umpire’s chair, blaming the umpire Alessandro Germani for their defeat.
His first attack came after he had shaken hands with his opponents and hit the chair with his racket en route to his player’s chair.
Not satisfied with that, he went back to the chair and while assaulting it again with his racket, directed a tirade at Germani, littered with abuse which could be heard throughout the auditorium.
“You f****** destroyed the whole f****** match. The whole f****** match,” shouted the German, who narrowly missed the umpire’s feet with the angry swings.
And as Eurosport report, Zverev first erupted in anger after a contentious call in the match tiebreaker.
“Look where the ball bounced,” Zverev yelled at the umpire.
“It’s 8-6 in the tiebreak, look where the ball bounced. For f*** sake, it’s your line. Its your f****** line you f****** idiot.
Zverev was due to face in the singles round of 16, fellow German Peter Gojowczyk on Thursday but has been forced to concede a place in the quarter-final.
Zverev’s angry outburst could earn him more sanctions from the men’s governing body.
In 2019, after an initial fine of $113,000, Australian Nick Kyrgios was handed a suspended ban of 16 weeks and an additional fine of $25,000 for “aggravated behaviour” by the ATP following an internal investigation.
And there is still the issue of Zverev’s ‘domestic abuse’ allegation raised last year by his ex-girlfriend Olga Sharypova which the ATP is still investigating.
The current incident came a day after Zverev had been involved in playing the ‘latest-ever’ match on the tour and longest at the event when he defeated Jenson Brooksby – the match itself started at 1.30am local time and finished at 4.55am.