Week of controversy for Alexander Zverev at Italian Open: Cursing at umpire, criticizing opponent & more
Alexander Zverev won the Italian Open last year, but this year’s Italian Open has been rather more eventful for the German.
The first of the so-called Zverev incidents at this year’s Italian Open happened quite early in the event. It was after his 2nd-round win over Camilo Ugo Carabelli, post which Zverev had a not-so-chill on-court interview.
Zverev wasn’t in the best of form leading up to the Italian Open, and the interviewer asked him about that, noting that he’s had a few early exits from the events that he played leading up to that one.
Zverev wasn’t impressed with the question and gave a rather interesting response, which also featured an insult toward the reporter.
"I mean, I didn't," Alexander Zverev said in his response to the interviewer suggesting that he had suffered a fair few early losses at this year's 1000-level events. "But you know, I won a tournament two weeks ago, so I don't really like to think about it. That's your job thinking about stupid questions when the match is an hour long, so I'll leave it up to you." [via X/@vronsky_anna]
The response was defended by some social media users, but the vast majority of tennis fans on 'X' criticized Zverev.
One of them even said Zverev’s title run in Munich wasn’t that impressive considering that he only bested one player ranked in the Top 30. It was an ATP 500 event, so not a minor title; however, it wasn’t a very impressive entry list per that fan.
Another fan highlighted his problematic past, stating that being rude and offensive was the least of Zverev's concerns. Overall, it wasn’t a well-received comment by the tennis fan base.
Zverev's comments on Lorenzo Musetti
The second huge controversy that marked Zverev’s time in Rome came against Lorenzo Musetti. The Italian crowd, particularly those in Rome, are rather known for being homers. They cheer for their players, and they don’t hide it or sugarcoat it.
Zverev knew that was going to happen, but his frustration boiled over at one point. He had an outburst where he bashed not only the tennis balls in use at the event but also the tactics used by Musetti in the match.
Zverev, who isn’t known to have the best temper after losing, spoke in rather uncharitable terms about Musetti's game style during his post-match press conference. He said:
“I don't know. I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents. Today was difficult for me to hit winners. It was very slow, very, very heavy."
He also raised issues with the balls, calling them “kids' balls” while handing one to the tournament official in the stands during a changeover.
"Look at it. It’s impossible to play tennis with this sh*t. If this is entertaining tennis, I don’t know what the f**k we’re doing. I’m tired of this. We're playing with f**king kids' balls nowadays. No wonder the guy is f**king six feet behind the baseline," Zverev during the match.
As some fans noted, however, Zverev often uses the same tactics Musetti used, especially when he’s playing on clay. Zverev has used his reach and speed many times to play wall-like tennis, where he essentially stands behind the baseline and just sends the ball back, hoping for an error.
Another fan pointed out that he would likely never say something like this about a player like Sinner or Alcaraz, even though they at times can use the same tactics.
"Such a graceless guy. Wouldn't dare say something like this about Carlos or Jannik... No wonder he doesn't have fans. Lose," - a fan on X wrote.
Overall, Zverev hasn’t shown a lot of grace this week in Rome. From the rudeness in the interview to the rather sour behavior after the loss he sustained against Musetti, the German has been the subject of plenty of criticism on social media.
His image has already been tarnished by the abuse case, and instances like this don’t help.
This year’s Italian Open won’t see him lift the trophy like last year’s, but Zverev certainly did grab the headlines once more - even though this time around, it was in a way less gracious way than last year.