An angry outburst from Alexander Zverev in his third-round Shanghai Masters match has sparked a debate! Are chair umpires truly to blame, or is it time to confront harsh truths? Well, the German player believes, “I have a grand slam final, I lose it because of you guys’ mistake..” Despite winning the clash against Tallon Griekspoor, he lashed out at the umpire’s consistent errors during his matches. Zverev believes the umpires “decide the whole match.” But Serena Williams‘ ex-coach, Rennae Stubbs, is not buying it and has weighed in on the matter in her podcast!

On the October 8th episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, Stubbs and Eliza Wastcoat recapped the last few matches in the Shanghai Masters. When the conversation drifted to Alexander Zverev’s recent outburst, Stubbs asked her co-host, “Zverev is blaming the umpires now for his losses at Grand Slam final. I mean dude, what are you talking about? Did you see the match live? Did you watch it or did you see stuff on socials?” To this, Wastcoat responded that she did not watch it live but knew about the 27-year-old’s outbursts. After recapping the incident, she said, “And I just sort of thought, oh jeez.”

To this, Stubbs responded by slamming Zverev and stated, “You’re making like 20 million dollars a year, fuck off! I would say that if I was the umpire.” Per Wastcoat, Zverev has had so many angry outbursts on-court during his career, that is making his recent behavior appear to be “funny.” She further added, “And to sit there and say you know that you are the reason why I have lost the Grand Slam final, I think it’s such a nugget into that.” Agreeing to her, Stubbs added, “What a great point! If I walk on the court with him in a grand slam final, I would be like, Hey, don’t forget those umpires, do you know, they’re gonna screw you?”

Wastcoat further referred to Zverev’s “victim mentality.” And she added how it reminds her of his lashing out at Daniil Medvedev (saying that Medvedev “is one of the most unfair players in the world”) during the Netflix series, Break Point (due to their feud in the 2023 Monte Carlos Masters). She further emphasized how Zverev should take “responsibility” for the “matches not going his way.” “You had opportunities…You can’t tell me that the umpire robbed you so badly that you lost Grand Slam final and I think it’s why he is not winning one,” she concluded. To this, Stubbs took a dig at Zverev, saying, “And if he doesn’t, would we be upset? I don’t think so.”

For context, in the first set of Alexander Zverev’s match, the 22-time ATP singles title winner went on a rant toward the chair umpire, Mohammad Lahyani. He wrongly accused the umpire of his call on Zverev’s ball’s double bounce (despite confirmation from the replays that supported the umpire’s decision).

He received a code violation after throwing his racquet, but Zverev continued and added how he has been playing with “injuries, with illness, with everything.” And so, “I cannot be bothered to go to China in October for you to screw up this.” Even during the changeover after the next point, Zverev furiously accused the umpires of making “mistakes,” dismissing Zverev’s efforts. Per him, the umpire pre-plans the “outcome” of a match, regardless of the player’s efforts.

Despite the umpire trying to pacify the situation, by saying it’s “enough,” Zverev could not hold back. “It’s enough now? Because you’re sitting on a comfortable chair whilst I’m running my a__ off at 9pm, and I’ve been doing it for nine months now this year.” But that’s not it! His comments about his Roland Garros matches also caught people’s attention!

Alexander Zverev talks about his Roland Garros defeat during his outburst!

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The second seed, Alexander Zverev, also referred to Carlos Bernardes’ judgment against Stanislas in the previous day’s match, along with a similar issue regarding Frances Tiafoe’s match during his outburst. However, later, the German player who fell short to Carlos Alcaraz in the five-set final round match in Paris held himself back and added, “I’m not saying I would have won Roland Garros, I’m not saying that. But that, then in Hamburg, I don’t say I would have won the tournament, but it didn’t help.”

Alexander Zverev, who is currently playing his 18th tournament in the Shanghai Masters, added, “Ask us players, the moment we come to Asia, we’re already played all four Grand Slams, we’ve played 80 matches.” Despite the controversy, he managed to win a tough tiebreaker against Griekspoor. Now, the 27-year-old player will face David Goffin in the round-of-16 match in the tournament. Nevertheless, his comments have sparked debate among fans and pundits, with many echoing Stubbs’ sentiments.