“Make mistakes and pay for them” Daniil Medvedev opines on Alexander Zverev’s removal from Acapulco Open

“Make mistakes and pay for them” Daniil Medvedev opines on Alexander Zverev’s removal from Acapulco Open

Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev smashing his racquet

World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev has made a solid start in his campaign to become the new World No. 1 at the end of this week in Mexico. The Russian has a golden chance at his hands to replace current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic from the top spot in the ATP rankings where the Serbian has been sitting for nearly 2 years now.

Daniil also got a slight boost to his chances as defending champion and World No. 3 Alexander Zverev was removed from the 2022 Acapulco Open after the German smashed his racquet on the chair umpire’s stand narrowly missing the umpire’s leg during his rowdy and violent act after losing his doubles match with partner Marcelo Melo against the pair of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

Zverev’s reaction was a shameful act and the tournament decided to remove him from the singles event as well as he had already lost the doubles match. While Zverev did issue an apology statement a few hours later, his actions have got him a lot of criticism from not only former players and pundits, but also his colleagues on the Tour currently.

“Sometimes we make mistakes and we pay for them. Some are bigger than others. He has understood it and has already apologized. In any profession mistakes are made,” said Medvedev in his press conference after having defeated Pablo Andujar to enter the quarter-finals of the Acapulco Open.

Daniil Medvedev 3 wins away from becoming new World No. 1

Daniil Medvedev
Daniil Medvedev

All Medvedev needs to do now is to win the title this week at the Acapulco Open and even if Novak is able to win the title at the 2022 Dubai Tennis Championships that are scheduled simultaneously with Acapulco, the 2021 US Open champion will be the one sitting on the top when the rankings are updated on Monday, 28th February 2022.

While Djokovic will take on Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals in Dubai, Medvedev will face the challenge from Yoshihito Nishioka in Mexico. The Japanese player makes his way into the quarter-finals having started as a qualifier and then defeating Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez in the first round of the main-draw and followed it up with another 3-set win, this time over American No. 1 Taylor Fritz.

Also Read: “Alexander Zverev deserves it” Rafael Nadal approves the German getting kicked out from the Acapulco Open