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Alexander Zverev Australian Open 2022

‘It crossed the line’ – Alexander Zverev accuses crowd of abusing his family


Alexander Zverev has accused the Brazilian crowd at a Davis Cup match of ‘crossing the line’ by directing abusive chants at him.

Zverev was representing Germany against Brazil in Rio de Janeiro over the weekend, with him beating Thiago Monteiro to help his country to victory.

However, the home fans appeared to be directing chants at Zverev referencing his ex-girlfriend Olya Sharypova, who has accused him of domestic violence.

Zverev, though, alleges the chants were referencing his own family, and that makes it unacceptable.

“When it gets towards your family members, or when it gets towards somebody that you love, this is where I draw the line of respect,” he said.

“Today that line was crossed. And [it happened] during basically every single game that we played.”

The ATP are currently investigating the claims of Sharypova, and Zverev could face major sanctions should they be considered credible.

Alexander Zverev is also the subject of a further ATP investigation after he was disqualified from Acapulco last month for repeatedly smashing the umpire’s chair with his racket.

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.