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Zverev narrowly avoids ban after smashing umpire’s chair with racket
Alexander Zverev was defaulted from the recent Mexico Open, where he was defending champion, for smashing the umpire’s chair with his racket in frustration after a doubles loss and screaming: “You f*****g destroyed the whole f*****g match. The whole f*****g match,” after disagreeing with a call in the final set tiebreak.
He was quickly withdrawn from the tournament, fined and forced to give up his prize money and ranking points as well as pay his hotel costs.
But the ATP opened an investigation into the incident and last week announced the world No 3 had been found guilty of a “major offence”, fined an additional £19,000 ($25,000).
Many expected the 24-year-old to receive a ban but this was instead given in the form of probation, with an eight-week ban to be imposed if Zverev is sanctioned for similar behaviour in the next 12 months.
“It still is embarrassing for me now. Walking around the locker room, it’s not a nice feeling,” Zverev said of the incident when arriving in Indian Wells.
“But we all do mistakes. I’m also a human being, and I can guarantee you I will never act this way again in my life. It was definitely the worst moment of my life.”
The third seed received a bye to the second round where he lost to Tommy Paul in straight sets late on Sunday local time.
