“Something that hurts him”- Casper Ruud takes a blunt dig at Alexander Zverev, says he should be thrown out for some time off the tour
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Casper Ruud and Alexander Zverev
World No.3 Alexander Zverev has been in the negative limelight for quite some time now. Last month, he was thrown out of the Mexican Open after he ferociously attacked the chair umpire after his doubles match. He was a subject of constant criticism for his on-court actions, for which, he later apologized.
But people all around the world demanded stricter actions against him for such behavior but ATP heavily fined Zverev and put him on probation. Miami Open finalist Casper Ruud has spoken on the matter ahead of the Monte-Carlo Masters and has expressed his disappointment in ATP’s ruling.
He said that Zverev was completely wrong and needs to not be on probation, rather he should be suspended for some time. In this way, Ruud feels that Zverev will learn that life isn’t always fair.
“I think it’s wrong. I think it’s completely wrong. That’s why I asked: I think Zverev needs to be not on probation, he needs to be taken off the tour for a month, two months, maybe it’s the first Grand Slam, maybe it’s the first ATP Masters 1000 but something that hurts him rather than just be able to not do the same thing again and then I’m fine. It doesn’t make sense. Life doesn’t work like that,” he said.
‘Such behavior brings attention to the sport just in a negative way’: Casper Ruud
Apart from Zverev, there have been multiple cases of violence on the tennis court in the last few weeks. For instance, Nick Kyrgios came ever so close to hitting a ball boy after smashing his racket in frustration. About these incidents, Ruud said that these need to stop and called such behavior ‘reckless’.
“I think it needs to stop. This has been two, three cases now within a month. So it’s reckless behavior in a way. It’s not something I wish to see, but at the same time, it kind of brings attention to the sport just in a negative way. I think the punishment is tough to say what is fair and what is not that they do get big fines, but for some of these players doesn’t seem like it matters. So it’s tough to say what we can do about it,“ he said.
On the court, Ruud is in amazing form and will begin his European clay season in Monte Carlo on Wednesday. He will take on teenager Holger Rune in the second round.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2603 Articles Published)