“We have to punish him,” Mats Wilander expresses his strong opinions on Alexander Zverev’s comeback

The new 2022 season did not have a good start for Alexander Zverev. He started his quest by participating in the ATP Cup and won the second group stage but defeating Taylor Fritz, but he lost the third group stage to Felix Auger-Aliassime with the score of 4-6,6-4,3-6.

He then played at the Open Sud De France tournament and won the semifinals by defeating Mikael Ymer with a score of 6-1,6-3. But he lost the finals to Alexander Bublik with a score of 4-6,3-6. He then played at the ATP Mexican Open 2022 where he won the opening round against Jenson Brooksby with a score of 3-6,7-6,6-2. But he lost the next round to Peter Gojowczyk.

Wilander speaks on Alexander Zverev

In the second round of the ATP Mexican Open 2022, an act of Alexander was widely condemned. During the match, the player threw his racquet on the ground a few inches away from the chair umpire. Due to this the umpire nearly got hurt and the player was fined 40,000 dollars.

This behavior of the star was frowned upon and many people including famous tennis celebrities and journalists spoke on the matter. One of these personalities was former tennis star, Mats Wilander. Mats is a former Swedish professional tennis player. His highest ranking according to the Association of Tennis Professionals was World No.1.

Wilander called out Zverev’s behavior and said that he shouldn’t be allowed back on the tennis court until he’s educated. He even said that Zverev should be punished.

“If a player breaks his racquet on the umpire’s chair and is literally inches away from hitting the umpire’s leg, he shouldn’t be allowed back on a tennis court until he’s followed a kind of re-education, a while. We have to punish him accordingly, and let him go out and play professional tennis the next week or two weeks after, it’s too soon,” he said.

“To me, money is not the thing, and I think you give someone who behaves like this either a three-month suspension or a six-month suspension. You are not allowing him to play the most important tournaments on his schedule. However, the most important tournaments are probably the Grand Slams, the ATP 1000, and the Davis Cup. I want to say, I don’t know where the line is drawn, but for sure going out and competing in any form right away doesn’t seem very fair to other players,” Mats spoke on the matter.

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