“The world of ‘men’ and ‘women’,” Tennis legend Chris Evert supports Serena Williams’ stand on Alexander Zverev’s outburst
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Chris Evert on Zverev's Outburst
Alexander Zverev made a return to the tennis courts after not facing any major repercussions from his recent rage-filled outburst at the Mexican Open.
Zverev defeated Thiago Seyboth Wild of Brazil at the Davis Cup World Group Qualifiers yesterday. The German appeared relatively calm on his return and dispatched Seyboth Wild 6-4, 6-2 to give Germany a 1-0 lead over Brazil. This was his first match since being kicked out of the Mexican Open for violent conduct against the chair umpire.
Evert supports Serena’s stand on Zverev controversy
In a recent interview, Chris Evert has called the ATP punishment of Alexander Zverev “lenient” and agreed with Serena Williams about the ‘double standards in tennis’ between men and women.
The episode in Mexico saw the German handed an eight-week suspended ban and fined $40,000 (£31,000) by the ATP before receiving a further suspended $25,000 (£19,000) fine following a review.
In an interview with Eurosport, the former World No.1 revealed that she felt that the sanctions faced by Zverev were too lenient in her opinion. However, she refused to judge Zverev on the basis of this incident, calling him a very gracious person in real life.
“I will tell you exactly how I feel. I think it was too lenient. I am not here to sit back and make any judgments on Zverev as far as his behaviour or him as a person. From what I know and my contact with him, he’s always been very nice and very gracious.”- said Evert.
Serena Williams had earlier, given her thoughts on the incident, stating that she’d be in jail if she had done what the German did, aiming to bring out the discrimination between the men’s and women’s game. Evert too agreed with the American legend, revealing that according to her consequences would have been much harsher if Serena had done something similar.
“I wouldn’t go as far as saying she would go to jail, but I think she has a point and I think that definitely, her consequences would have been far stricter than Zverev’s. Welcome to the world of men and women. I think it is a female and male issue. I agree with Serena. There would have been stricter consequences if she would have done it. I think the WTA would have put stricter consequences on any woman who would have done this,” added Evert.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)