Alex Zverev apologized Wednesday after being kicked out of a tennis tournament for his violent actions towards a chair umpire at the end of a defeat.
Zverev teamed with Marcelo Melo for the doubles event at the Mexican Open in Acapulco. The two lost to Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the first round on Tuesday night.
Zverev took issue with a call from chair umpire Alessandro Germani at 8-6 in the tiebreak and verbally berated the official, calling him a “f-----g idiot.”
Zverev was given a code violation after that verbal assault on the umpire. The blown call set up match point for Glasspool and Heliovaara, who then won with an ace.
After the handshake at the net at the end of the match, Zverev then went towards Germani and smashed his racket against the side of the umpire’s chair three times. He was close enough that Germani had to move his feet to avoid being hit.
Zverev continued to berate the umpire and then as Germani was going down the stairs of the ladder, Zverev took a fourth and final swing at the chair.
Zverev, who is one of the top singles players in the world, was withdrawn from the event even though he had already won his first-round match in the singles event. His scheduled second-round opponent was shown on the draw to have won via walkover. Zverev won the singles event last year.
Zverev issued a statement over Instagram in which he apologized to the fans, tournament and sport of tennis.
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