Alexander Zverev will be in the round of 16 of the Shanghai Masters 1,000 after suffering a lot against the Dutch Tallon Griekspoor, whom he ended up defeating 7-6(6), 2-6 and 7-6(5). The German tennis player experienced his match with great tension, in which at times he lost concentration and was one step away from losing.
Zverev will now face David Goffin, who already gave the surprise by defeating Musetti in the previous round and who, this Tuesday, came back from a set down against the American Marcos Girón.
The tension in the German duel was high and reached its climax when, in the first set, the chair umpire gave Griekspoor a point because, according to him, the ball bounced twice before Zverev touched it. The German got very angry and pointed out that he had touched her before. He was not right, because the replays showed that he had given the two bounces that the referee said, but that was enough for the German to remember the mistakes that the referees are making in this tournament and in the past.
“What the hell are you calling that? Do I touch the ball completely clean? Let me say something, You referees are screwing up the entire tournament this year. Completely,” Zverev said.who had seen how the Brazilian Carlos Bernardes had committed on Monday a decisive mistake in the Wawrinka-Cobolli that had decided the match. And, this same Tuesday, Frances Tiafoe had accused the referee of having disadvantaged her against Safiullin after he had been given a warning at 5-5 in the tie break of the third set, which caused him to have to serve with a second serve.
Alexander Zverev remembers Roland Garros
Zverev did not stop there and recalled past cases. “I have played more than 80 games this year, with injuries, with illnesses, with everything. And I can’t be bothered to go to China in October to do this. This is not possible. I have been playing for nine months…”, he stated. the German, who then remembered Carlos Alcaraz and the lost Roland Garros final in June. “I have a Grand Slam final and I lose it because of your mistake. I’m here fighting my illness – he suffered pneumonia a few days ago – and you keep making mistakes. You decide the entire match. You decide the results of the tournaments every week. What am I working hard for?” he told the referee.
In that final, the chair umpire called a good ball Carlos Alcarazon a second serve, which television images showed was bad and which would have given the German the option of having a break ball to lead 2-2. Alcaraz would win that game and get the set back on track, which he won 6-2.
At that time, Alexander Zverev was understanding of the refereeing errors, but at the 1000 Shanghai Masters he exploded and could no longer contain himself.