Overin Acapulco, amidst the insane amount of tennis being played this week, controversy ensued as defending champion Alexander Zverev was ousted by the tennis organisers after his furious outburst against the umpire.
The German was playing a doubles match with his Brazilian partner Melo and even managed to secure the second set before losing in the tie break. During the tie break is when the controversy started. The umpire made a call and Zverev disagreed. With the tie break at 8-6, the ball was called in, however Zverev saw it bounce outside the line and chaos ensued.
The German, in an offensive and graphic language, ranted about the decision, screaming loudly. “Look where the ball bounced. It’s 8-6 in the tie-break, look where the ball bounced. For f*** sake, it’s your line. It’s f****** your line. You f****** idiot.” Zverev continued his rant, ““You f*****g destroyed the whole f*****g match. The whole f*****g match.”
Zverev was supposed to face the lucky loser Peter Gojowczyk in the singles second round but Peter was given the walkover after Zverev was eliminated entirely from the tournament.
Playing for the first time in five years at the Dubai open, tennis legend Andy Murray condemned the incident and said, ““It was not good. It was dangerous, reckless,” the former world No 1 said after his loss to Sinner.
“I understand athletes across lots of sports can get very frustrated. Certainly me, I’ve not always acted in the way I’d want on the court. I’m certainly not claiming to be an angel. I’m not perfect myself.”
Meanwhile for the other players, Nadal easily passed by opponent Kozlov in straight sets (6-0, 6-3) as he secured the quarter finals spot against Tommy Paul and continued his winning streak of 12 matches since the start of his season in Australia.
