Alexander Zverev news: Sascha issues public apology over outburst

ATP Tour
Alexander Zverev

Olympic gold medallist Alexander Zverev has apologised for the outburst that saw him expelled from the Mexican Open.

Zverev conceded that his behaviour had been unacceptable after he struck the umpire’s chair following a doubles loss to Great Britain’s Lloyd Glasspool and Finn Harri Heliovaara.

The German followed that up with a foul-mouthed tirade against the umpire.

His rant went out live on the ATP Tour feed.

“You f***ing destroyed the whole f***ing match. The whole f***ing match, you destroyed,” Zverev could be heard shouting at the umpire.

He had been set to continue his bid to defend his singles title with a second round match against compatriot Peter Gojowczyk, but was expelled by tournament organisers.

“It is difficult to put into words how much I regret my behavior during and after the doubles match yesterday,” he wrote.

“I have privately apologised to the chair umpire because my outburst towards him was wrong and unacceptable.”

Zverev stopped short of blaming his marathon first round match against Jordan Brooksby for his short temper on court in Acapulco.

“As you know I leave everything out on the court,” he wrote.

“Yesterday I left too much. I am going to take the coming days to reflect on my actions and how I can ensure that it will not happen again.”

He repeated the message in German across social media.

Former World No 1 Andy Murray described the incident as unacceptable.

“It was not good. It was dangerous, reckless,” Murray said when asked about the incident after his exit from the Dubai Tennis Championships.

“I obviously understand lots of players, athletes across lots of sports, can get very frustrated. Certainly me, myself, I’ve not always acted in the way I would want on the tennis court. I’m certainly not claiming to be an angel.”

“However, when you’re ripping your tennis racquet right next to the umpire multiple times, yeah, you can’t be doing that.”

Zverev is on the entry list for the next ATP Tour event; The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, which starts on 10 March 2022.

Alexander Zverev

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