- 11,212
- 4,507
- 229
Fourth seed Alexander Zverev bowed out of the Australian Open in straight sets against Milos Raonic on Monday. But more than the quality of play, it is the German’s outburst where he smashed his racquet into oblivion and scared a ball kid in the process, that took the limelight. The young German couldn’t join fellow under-21 year olds Stefanos Tsitsipas and Frances Tiafoe in the quarterfinal after being swept aside by the Canadian 6-1, 6-1, 7-6.
“Yeah, it made me feel better. I was very angry, so I let my anger out,” he told reporters about his outburst in the second set. And the volatile German was surprised when asked if he had done it before. “You never watched my matches? You should watch my matches,” he smiled.
With Zverev smashing his racquet eight times into the ground, startling a ball kid at the change over, his angry reaction and the eventual shattering of the gear is not the first of its kind at Australian Open. Not so surprisingly, Zverev was given a warning for racquet abuse by chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
In 2012, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis took one racquet after another to beat four into a pulp before calmly handing it over to the ball kid to throw it away in the bin. The smashing of racquets earned him a $1250 fine in the second round defeat against Stanislas Wawrinka.
“Yeah, it made me feel better. I was very angry, so I let my anger out,” he told reporters about his outburst in the second set. And the volatile German was surprised when asked if he had done it before. “You never watched my matches? You should watch my matches,” he smiled.
With Zverev smashing his racquet eight times into the ground, startling a ball kid at the change over, his angry reaction and the eventual shattering of the gear is not the first of its kind at Australian Open. Not so surprisingly, Zverev was given a warning for racquet abuse by chair umpire Carlos Ramos.
In 2012, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis took one racquet after another to beat four into a pulp before calmly handing it over to the ball kid to throw it away in the bin. The smashing of racquets earned him a $1250 fine in the second round defeat against Stanislas Wawrinka.