Picture Credit: Twitter
The ongoing Mexican Open 2022 witnessed a shocking incident on Wednesday, which left everyone stunned. During the men's doubles match between Alexander Zverev/Marcelo Melo and Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara, things got quite heated during the final set tie-breaker when the referee gave a decision against Zverev and Melo.
The decision did not go down well with the Tokyo Olympic 2020 singles' champion Zverev who literally blasted at the umpire. He abused the official and said, "You f*****g idiot" as the crowd also got stunned with German's behaviour.
As the duo lost the match, things got a bit too nasty and unsportsmanlike. Alexander Zverev could not control his disappointment and anger and after shaking hands with the opponents, he went towards the referee's chair and started to smash it with the tennis racquet.
No one could believe what was happening as the referee was somehow saved from getting hit by Zverev, which could have been a serious injury. He had more abusive words to say to the referee but the latter kept his cool and left the court without saying anything back.
Watch the video here:
Zverev, who had won his singles match against Jenson Brooksby [3-6, 7-6 (10), 6-2], was eventually disqualified from the tournament following his unacceptable behaviour. He was slated to face his fellow countrymen Peter Gojowczyk in Round of 16, who will now get a walk-over.
"Due to unsportsmanlike conduct at the conclusion of his doubles match on Tuesday night, Alexander Zverev has been withdrawn from the tournament in Acapulco," organisers of the ATP tournament in a statement said.
Considering the act by 24-year-old, he is set to face more sanctions from the authorities and it will be intriguing to see the kind of punishment he faces going ahead.