BOOS @ THE 02 ARENA TODAY @ NITTO ATP TENNIS • FANS CONFUSED • BALLKID DROPS BALL IN ZVEREV AND FEDERER TIEBREAKER

Germany’s Alexander Zverev reacts after beating Switzerland’s Roger Federer in their semi final match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London, Britain, 17 November 2018.  EPA-EFE/WILL OLIVER

 

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

Sports fans can be awful every so often, and tennis is no exception. Normally you see it at the U.S. Open or Australian Open, where they cause a ruckus due to being overly inebriated on adult beverages. Or at the French Open, where they’ll hiss at players for no reason other than they aren’t French or not named Roger Federer. Or at small 250 tournaments, where they show up for the social life and offer nothing more than noisemaking and general tomfoolery during the actual tennis.

 

But in London they generally know their tennis and show respect–certainly at Wimbledon and also at Queen’s Club.

 

An aberration to that rule took place inside the O2 Arena on Saturday afternoon. It all started in the second-set tiebreaker of a Nitto ATP Finals semifinal showdown between Federer and Alexander Zverev. Serving at 3-4, Zverev stopped play in the middle of a rally and called for let after a ballboy dropped a ball that proceeded to roll near the back wall behind Federer’s baseline. Normally, of course, only the chair umpire calls a let. But Carlos Bernardes didn’t see it; only Zverev saw it, as the German was facing in that direction whereas Bernades was tracking Federer’s previous shot on its way back over to Zverev’s side.

 

Following a brief discussion between Bernardes and the ballboy, in which the ballboy admitted to dropping the ball, a let was officially called.

 

Fans already started to hoot and holler before Zverev lined up to serve the point’s replay. When he promptly smacked an ace to level the score at 4-4, the groans–boos, in fact–grew louder. Predictably, the booing became even worse when the German finished off the match a few points later in the form of a 7-5, 7-6(5) victory.

 

It got so bad–and embarrassing for anyone who stopped so low to do it–that Zverev’s on-court interview with Annabel Croft could hardly get started. When the 21-year-old could barely get an opening apology in (which he shouldn’t have had to do in the first place), Croft took over.

 

“I’m not sure why you’re all booing,” she announced. “I think you have to be a little bit more respectful.”

 

Why they were booing is obvious. Quite simply, Roger Federer lost a tennis match. If Zverev had ended up losing the match in three sets, he would have been treated as if he was Prince William himself walking off the court. But he didn’t lose. He beat Roger Federer, and that’s simply unacceptable–especially unacceptable when he had the audacity as to do so much as play by the rules!

 

Croft knew as much, too. She just couldn’t go out and say, “Shut up, you idiots! Don’t boo the kid just because Federer lost!”

 

“The crowd that were booing didn’t get the result they wanted,” Croft pointed out afterward. “It was such a hostile and horrible moment to be standing there and I felt for Sascha because I could see him rocked to the core. I thought he was going to crumble; when you have that many people on you, in that atmosphere….”

 

But Zverev didn’t crumble, instead getting through the ensuing on-court interview in fine style as some of the crowd continued to boo while the more knowledgeable tennis fans would try to drown them out with cheers.

 

“It was a tough situation I think for everybody; I think for Roger, for me, (and) for the crowd,” the world No. 5 said during his press conference. “There’s obviously a lot of Roger fans, as he deserves to have them, all over the world. He’s the greatest player of all time. He’s also one of the greatest people that ever played on a tennis court. He deserves to have all the fans in the world.”

 

It would just be more helpful none of them were so blinded by their fandom that they take it out on his conquerors. If only they could see like Federer that Zverev did nothing wrong.

 

“I’m not questioning Sascha’s sportsmanship in any way,” the 37-year-old Swiss assured. “I think it’s a bold move by Sascha to stop the rally because the umpire can just say, ‘Sorry, you’re in the rally. I don’t care. You lost the point. I didn’t see it.’ That’s where I just wanted to double-check with the umpire, what is the situation. But not for a second there was a sportsmanship situation there. It was just totally an umpire’s decision with the ball kid and the linesperson, as well, just making sure they got the facts right.

 

“Booing, I never like it. We see it in other sports all the time, but in tennis it’s rare. So when it happens, it gets very personal and we take it very direct. I think it’s unfortunate that this happened. Sascha doesn’t deserve it.

 

“He apologized to me at the net. I was like, ‘Buddy, shut up. You don’t need to apologize to me here. Congratulations on a great match and a great tournament so far. All the best for the finals.’ And you move on.”

 

Will the crowd move on in the finals?

 

“I just hope it doesn’t happen,” Zverev said when asked about the prospect of getting booed again on Sunday against Novak Djokovic. “I don’t know why I should get booed tomorrow. I hope people realize that I’ve maybe not done anything wrong.”

 

Zverev can rest assured that it won’t happen–not after people see the replays and the classy comments by both players and come to their senses. The fans stunk today. They won’t stink tomorrow. They’ll make up for it.

 

And it will help Zverev’s standing with the crowd that this time around he’s not trying to beat the one and only Roger Federer.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @TennGrand.

 

Editor’s Note • Sad for ballkid. Surprised that stuff doesn’t actually happen more often. Being a ballkid is totally stressful situation. I don’t know how they do it…

Bottom line – even though the chair gave an explanation, the fans still did not understand. It’s a nuance. It’s sad to see a match end with a hiccup like that. But I do not blame the fans. No way they understood.

Ricky’s accurate that Annabel Croft saved the day best she could. Bravo Annabel. (LJ)

 

Topics: 02 Arena, 10sballs, Alexander Zverev, London, Nitto ATP Finals, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis10sBalls

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