“Need to Punish Him Accordingly”: 7-Time Major Champion Mats Wilander Suggests Alexander Zverev Needs Rehab After Violent Outburst at Acapulco

Alexander Zverev has recently been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The German World No. 3 had a stellar 2021. But the start to the new year and the new season has not been the best for him. Even though fans had been pinning him as title hopeful, he suffered a 4th round defeat to Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open 2022.

It is however in the Acapulco Open that things became nasty. In his round of 16 doubles match, he hit the umpire’s chair with his racquet several times. Naturally, this surprising incident has drawn universal criticism.

Tennis legend Mats Wilander recently opened up about how he found Zverev’s behaviour extremely problematic. In an interview, he emphasized that this kind of violent outburst should result in the players going through a stricter process.

“If a player breaks his racquet on the umpire’s chair and he is literally a few centimetres away from hitting the umpire’s leg, he should not be allowed to get on a tennis court until he has gone through some kind of rehab, some kind of time,” Wilander stressed. The 57-YO spoke extensively about the matter and said how just imposing a monetary fine was not in the best interest of the tennis fraternity.

Wilander says Alexander Zverev needs to be cared differently

“To me, money does not do it, and I think you either give someone with that behaviour a three-month suspension or a six-month suspension. You do not allow him to play the most important tournaments on his calendar,” he concluded.

Also read: ‘There Are More Important Things in Life Than Tennis’ – Alexander Zverev Vouches for Peace Amidst the Ongoing Global Conflict.

The Swedish great did mention that he is not the decision-maker on where to draw the line. But, he firmly believes that allowing Alexander Zverev to compete, straight away was not a fair decision for the other players. He suggested the creation of an overall regulatory body that would take into account these issues and dole out the necessary punishment.

“We need to punish him accordingly, and allowing him to come out and play professional tennis the week after or two weeks after, that is too soon,” he said.

Wilander also agreed to and appreciated Zverev’s passion for the sport. It is because he loves tennis so deeply does he get riled up about it so often. “I applaud him for being an emotional wreck at the end of the loss in a doubles match – that just shows that he cares, but you have to show that you care in different ways,” he also added.

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The 7-time Grand Slam champion of yesteryear also opened up about how he found racquet abuse very disrespectful. While many players across the world cannot afford a second racquet, the top players should behave more responsibly.

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