Zverev under a cloud ahead of ATP Finals
STAR MIRED IN CONTROVERSY
THIS time last year, Alex Zverev was about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime, getting the rock star treatment as he and Roger Federer jetted around South America on an exhibition tour.
As a bright young star of the game and client of Team8 — the management agency founded by Federer and his long-time manager Tony Godsick — he was a natural choice of opponent for Federer to play matches against in a part of the world usually starved of seeing the great Swiss.
It is unlikely that they will be publicly paired up again soon. Not with Zverev the subject of recent allegations of domestic violence, which have cast a shadow over his participation at this week’s ATP Finals in London.
Federer is missing from the event’s farewell to the capital as he nurses his way back to fitness after prolonged knee problems, with a hoped-for comeback at the Australian Open in January.
It remains to be seen how the men’s game’s biggest name, a careful curator of his own image, handles his association with the world No7, who currently finds himself as the sport’s bete noire.
Zverev denies the accusations from a former girlfriend, Olga Sharypova, that he subjected her to violence around autumn last year while they were in a relationship.
Among the claims in a recent interview with America’s Racquet magazine was that he struck her in their hotel room during the Laver Cup tournament in Geneva.
Zverev is one of the sport’s leading young talents and still only 23. The level of his playing performances has survived the most turbulent year for him off the court.
Before this he was already enmeshed in controversy. He played on the notorious Adria Tour and was then filmed partying when others were self-isolating; a different former girlfriend has revealed she is pregnant with their child; he was castigated for turning up to play at the French Open with symptoms of Coronavirus (although he subsequently tested negative).
Next month he is in London’s courts for the latest stage of a legal battle over alleged breach of contract with his former management company, who he left to join Team8.
By far the most serious matters are those concerning Sharypova, at a moment in history when the issue of domestic violence has never been of graver importance. It is a crime that is soaring, one of many collaterals of governments imposing lockdowns.
Amid all this, Zverev reached the final of the US Open and nearly won it. Only last week he made the final of the indoor Paris Masters.
The issue of the player versus his ex-girlfriend seems to be heading for a stalemate. She has indicated she will not be taking the matter to law enforcement, while he is denying her charges. On Friday he referred to pre-prepared words on his phone when the inevitable question came in the tournament build-up press conference.
Many observers have questioned why tennis governing bodies have remained quiet, at least until Friday night when the ATP Tour belatedly issued a statement. In effect it said they could only act if ‘legal authorities investigate’.
The Zverev situation is just one low point in a particularly difficult year for a sport with an international composition unique in many ways.
It is to tennis’s credit that it has staggered towards this week’s event, which was in danger of not happening. Aside from the injured Federer, the line-up — headed by Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal — is one of the few normal-looking things about tennis in 2020.