Acapulco is left without one of its favorite tennis players. Also without the current champion of the tournament. The German Alexander Zverev was expelled early this Wednesday (local time) from all participation in the contest after starring in a fit of anger. The tennis player, number three ranking, violently slammed his racket against the referee’s chair four times and insulted the judge. No one could believe. The stands of the Mexican stadium were filled with whistles to reproach him for his attitude. The ATP authority decided to exclude him from the tournament for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Zverev, 24, was competing alongside Brazilian Marcelo Melo in the doubles tournament. The pair lost against the tandem of the British Lloyd Glasspool and the Finn Harri Heliovaara (6-2, 4-6 and 10-6). The referee’s decisions, according to the German, had been unfair. “It is difficult to describe in words the regret for my behavior. I have apologized to the referee in private because my outburst towards him was wrong and unacceptable. I am disappointed in myself. This should not have happened and there is no excuse”, he wrote earlier this Wednesday. “It is a shame for the tournament and for all the fans what happened. However, unsportsmanlike conduct is unacceptable, the regulations are clear and must be complied with,” said Raúl Zurutuza, the director of the Mexican tournament.
In Acapulco they had high expectations with Alexander Zverev, because he was a finalist in 2019 — he was defeated by the explosive Nick Kyrgios, 6-3 and 6-4) — and last year he managed to be crowned after beating the Greek Stefanos Tsisipas (6- 4 and 7-6 (3). Already this year, in his first individual match, he starred in an unprecedented duel in tennis history by beating the American Jason Brooksby (3-6, 7-6 (10) and 6-2) The victory itself was not an anthology, but the fact that the game ended at 4:55 in the morning and became the game that ended later in history The recent episode in the Mexican port does not overshadow the successes he has achieved since his debut in 2013. At the Tokyo Olympics he won the gold medal, a prize never before achieved by a German, and has twice lifted the Masters Cup (2018 and 2021).
Acapulco has been losing tennis players over the days in what seemed to be one of its best editions, having five of the best players on the circuit. Hours before the start of the tournament, the Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz resigned because he had some discomfort in his elbow after winning the title in Rio de Janeiro. In the opening round there was also the abandonment of the Italian Matteo Berrettini against Tommy Paul due to problems in the abdominal area. Daniil Medvedev is still in the competition, for whom a hypothetical victory in Acapulco would boost him to number one in the world, the Greek Stefanos Tsisipas and, at the head of all, Rafael Nadal, who beat the American Denis Kudla on Tuesday (6-3 and 6-2).
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