‘SORRY’ ALEX BEATS BOOS
AS BOOS rang out around London’s 02 Arena, Alex Zverev will have got a taste of what it was like to be Naomi Osaka at this year’s US Open.
Zverev’s ‘crime’ was to have beaten crowd favourite Roger Federer in slightly controversial circumstances, albeit less heated than when the Japanese girl triumphed over Serena Williams in New York.
It had been arguably the best win of the 21-year-old German’s career — but he found himself jeered, which again proved that tennis crowds love nothing more than an ageing hero.
Zverev made it through to tonight’s championship match at the Nitto ATP Finals against Novak Djokovic with a 7-5, 7-6 victory.
What had provoked a capacity crowd of nearly 18,000 was the point when he led 4-3 in a tiebreak, after what had been the best match of the week.
Zverev stopped the point in mid-rally when he saw, at the far corner of the court, a ball rolling after it had fallen out of a ballboy’s pocket.
Umpire Carlos Bernardes ruled that the point should be replayed, and it was immediately sealed with an ace from the German. The crowd and Federer’s discontent lingered until he managed to close it out 7-5.
Like Osaka, Zverev was shaken by the reaction after clinching match point, saying on court: ‘I apologise to the crowd. There are a lot of Roger fans here. The ball boy dropped the ball and it’s in the rules that you have to replay the point.
‘I’m a little bit upset now about the situation. It’s not how I wanted the match to end.’
Annabel Croft, conducting the post-match interview, summoned her inner headmistress to tell the crowd: ‘I don’t know why you are all booing. He’s telling the truth. The ball boy dropped the ball and it disrupted play. You have to be more respectful.’
As the ball was spilled in Zverev’s eyeline, he was within his rights to stop play. Federer, unlike Williams two months ago, did not go over the top on the umpire — although he hinted he thought Bernardes could still have awarded him the point.
‘It could have made a difference,’ said the Swiss. ‘I’m not questioning Sascha’s (Zverev’s) sportsmanship. It’s a bold move to stop the rally because the umpire can say: “Sorry buddy, you’re in the rally”.’
Djokovic later breezed through to a meeting with Zverev by sweeping aside the challenge of South African Kevin Anderson 6-2, 6-2.
Earlier, there was disappointment for Scot Jamie Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares as they lost 6-3, 4-6, 10-4 to Americans Jack Sock and Mike Bryan.