Roland-Garros 2022: Alexander Zverev booed by crowd during five-set second round win over Sebastian Baez
Alexander Zverev has been booed by the Roland-Garros crowd after a heated exchange with his team during his five-set win over Sebastian Baez.
Zverev came from two-sets to love down for the third time in his career, but the third seed received an almighty scare from the Argentine, who is ranked 36 in the world.
Baez had a match point on Zverev’s serve in the deciding set, but the German prevailed 2-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 in a epic that lasted three hours and 36 minutes.
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The wheels appeared to be falling off for Zverev early in the second set, after he double faulted to drop serve in the opening game. His second serve on break point was clocked at 210 km/h.
As he swapped ends he gesticulated and exchanged words with members of his team, including father Alexander Senior and new coach, Sergi Bruguera, a two-time champion in Paris.
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The crowd on Court Philippe-Chatrier didn’t take kindly to Zverev’s antics, booing the German. Things went from bad to worse after that, with Baez racing to a 4-0 lead, with Zverev missing a straightforward overhead at one point.
“What is going on? Wow,” said John McEnroe in commentary.
Zverev fought back to take the third and fourth sets comfortably, but Baez had the chance to close out the match when Zverev served at 4-5 in the fifth set. However, the Argentinian missed a relatively simple forehand return, allowing Zverev to escape.
He’ll now face American Brandon Nakashima in the third round, who is enjoying his best run at a grand slam.
Zverev is on a collision course with teenage phenom Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter finals, a rematch of their Madrid final earlier this month, when the Spaniard dusted Zverev 6-3, 6-1 in just 62 minutes.
“I’m happy still being in the tournament right now,” said Zverev.
“I was planning my holiday in Monaco, where I was going to go and who I was going to go with and that relaxed me, thinking about the beach.
“You just have to find a way.”
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