Picture Credit: ATP
World number 3 and 2020 Olympic Gold medalist Alexander Zverev has been put on one-year probation by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) on Monday for violently hitting the umpire's chair repeatedly with his racket after losing in a doubles matchup at the Mexico Open.
If the German receives a code violation leading to a fine for unsportsmanlike conduct or for "verbal or physical abuse of an official, opponent, spectator or any other person while on-court or on-site," he will be suspended from ATP events for eight weeks and fined an additional $25,000, according to the ATP.
Zverev is given a deadline until Friday for appealing the ATP senior vice president of rules and competition, Miro Bratoev’s ruling. The review conducted by Bratoev about the events occurring last month in Acapulco, Mexico, decided that Zverev perpetrated troubled behavior under the major offence section of the ATP rulebook. The probation ends Feb. 22, 2023 -- one year after the episode in Acapulco.
The 24-year-old was in a doubles match with Marcelo Melo against Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara, where he was seen shouting at the official after an apparent wrongful call. The chair umpire gave Zverev a code violation for his swearing while arguing about a shot which was ruled in. This decision set up the match point and led to Zverev and Melo losing the game. Hence after the match was over, Zverev was seen violently hitting the umpire's chair.
Zverev already has paid $40,000 and has forfeited more than $30,000 in prize money, along with all of the rankings points he earned at the Mexico Open as fines for his actions. But since his incident at the Mexican, Zverev has won two singles matches for Germany as he defeated Brazil in Davis Cup matchup this weekend.
In October 2021, the ATP had launched an investigation on Alexander Zverev regarding domestic abuse allegations made by his ex-girlfriend Olga Sharapova. “The allegations raised against Alexander Zverev are serious and we have a responsibility to address them,” ATP chief executive, Massimo Calvelli, said in a statement addressing the issue.