Alexander Zverev: Spectator-Klat overshadow his victory in Munich

Tennis player Alexander Zverev made it into the semi-finals at the ATP tournament in Munich. The best German tennis professional rank Tallon Griekspoor from the Netherlands after 3:13 hours with 6: 7 (6: 8), 7: 6 (7: 3), 6: 4 and thus ended his latest negative series of six tournaments without moving into the preliminary round. However, Zverev’s victory was overshadowed by an incident in the grandstand.

At the stand of 5: 5 in the second set and surcharge Zverev, a man roared audibly from the stands: “Let’s go, you shit women’s racket!” There was briefly unrest in the ranks, Zverev broke off the serve and looked puzzled towards the man. This then had to leave the Center Court. “I noticed that. There is always one or two idiots in the stadium. This is not a problem,” said Zverev after the game.

The incident was reminiscent of a scene at the award ceremony of the Australian Open in January of this year. At Zverev’s speech, a woman called from the stands: “Australia believes Olya and Brenda.” What was meant by Zverev’s ex-girlfriends Olya Sharipova and Brenda Patea, who raised allegations of violence against the athlete, but could never prove them.

Last June, a proceedings before the Tiergarten district court in Berlin against Zverev had been terminated without judgment against a total of 200,000 euros. The decision was preceded by an out-of-court agreement by the athlete and his ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea as a co-plaintiff. No admission of guilt is associated with the approval of payment of a money requirement. Zverev is still considered innocent.

It was no longer sporty for the native of Hamburg after the finale of the Australian Open. At six tournaments one after the other in South America, Mexico, the USA and Monte-Carlo, he did not get beyond the quarter-finals. In Munich, the two -time tournament winner wanted to create the comeback and get momentum for the French Open in Paris at the end of May.

After that, it did not look in the first sentence – on the contrary: Zverev played very defensive, made a number of simple mistakes, looked agile and without ideas. Two days before his 28th birthday, he seemed to fail early on a damp -cold Munich Good Friday. Again and again he struggled and looked at his father and trainer at the stands. After the incident with the spectator, the match and Zverev turned as the winner. In the semifinals, he will meet the Hungary Fábián Marozsán on Saturday.