After his freak-out in Acapulco, Alexander Zverev will already be back on the tennis court this Friday evening. An absurdity, at least if you ask tennis icon Mats Wilander.
Former world number one Mats Wilander would have liked to see a much more severe punishment for tennis pro Alexander Zverev after his freak-out in Acapulco. “If a player breaks his racket on the umpire’s chair and is literally a few centimetres away from hitting the umpire’s leg, he should not be allowed on a tennis court until he has gone through some kind of rehabilitation process,” said the 57-year-old Eurosport pundit from Sweden.
“You sanction someone who behaves like that with a three-month or six-month ban,” added Wilander, who won seven major titles in his career: “You don’t allow him to play the most important tournaments on the calendar in a case like that – the Grand Slams, the Masters events and the Davis Cup.”
Zverev will play for the German Tennis Federation (DTB) in the Davis Cup duel in Brazil this Friday evening (8pm/Sportdeutschland TV), one and a half weeks after his disqualification in Mexico. The 24-year-old had asked for a detailed apology for his behaviour and was fined 40,000 US dollars (approx. 35,800 euros) by the ATP.