The tennis show tournament in Berlin next week will take place without Alexander Zverev. He decided to “not currently take part in organized events,” Zverev said on Instagram. Instead, he will train with his team. “It is never nice to miss the chance to play at home, but I will be back soon,” wrote the 23-year-old. The organizers of the tournament reacted to the cancellation with incomprehension and annoyance. Zverev has “provided no further justification for his waiver,” it said in a message.
From a sporting point of view, this is an understandable decision. He also confirmed a test phase with ex-professional David Ferrer as a member of his coaching team. The tournament in Berlin would have come at the wrong time, Zverev and Ferrer need the time for their training work. Real tournaments are expected to continue in August. In addition, Zverev escapes the media obligation in his home country to comment on the past weeks. Most recently, he had been criticized for his behavior in the corona crisis. He avoided this topic in his statement, and his management has not yet commented.
In mid-June, Zverev, along with world number one Novak Djokovic and other professionals, was criticized for partying videos and disregarding the hygiene rules on the Adriatic tour co-organized by Djokovic. Criticism intensified when Zverev attended a party on the Côte d’Azur a week after apologizing for the Adriatic tour and announced isolation. After the Adriatic tour, several professionals, including Djokovic, had tested positive for the corona virus.
Thiem defends Zverev, Kyrgios intervenes
Zverev was not one of the players with a positive test result, but rather announced that he was tested negative for the third time. In Berlin, Zverev would originally have met Nick Kyrgios, one of his greatest critics, and Dominic Thiem. Kyrgios had to cancel his participation now because the Australian is not allowed to leave his home country. The 25-year-old is currently one of the few tennis professionals who loudly demand that the tennis scene deal responsibly with the Covid 19 pandemic.
After Kyrgios had already criticized Djokovic and Zverev, he has now taken on Thiem. Zverev also plays a major role in this. Thiem had commented on the criticism of his colleague in Germany in the “Tiroler Tageszeitung”: “I am not good at how people criticize him. He is treated as if he were a primary school child. But he is a 23-year-old man.”
Of course, Zverev made mistakes – “but I don’t understand why everyone is getting involved,” said Thiem. Djokovic’s statements go in a similar direction. The Serb, who also heads the player council of the men’s organization ATP, complained in an interview with the Belgrade sports newspaper “Sportski zurnal” about the worldwide criticism he had to take for his Adriatic tour. “It was very malicious, it was like a witch hunt,” said Djokovic.
Kyrgios then publicly questioned Thiem: “What are you talking about, Dominic Thiem? None of you have the intellectual skills to understand what I am about. I am concerned with responsibility.” Kyrgios attacked Thiem, Zverev and Djokovic again: “It shows what a joke it is. Two of them celebrate during a global pandemic. People lose their lives, their relatives and friends, and then Thiem talks about a ‘mistake ‘. And people like that are at the forefront of our sport. “
