Alexander Zverev was made to toil onerous for his second-round win at the 2024 Australian Open, with qualifier Lukas Klein taking him to 5 units earlier than the German booked his spot in the subsequent stage.
Zverev had to come again from a 1-2 deficit on Thursday (January 18), lastly prevailing 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(7) in a battle that lasted 4 hours and 31 minutes on John Cain Arena.
At his press convention, nonetheless, it was Alexander Zverev’s impending domestic abuse trial that was introduced up, making the World No. 6 snap. For these unaware, he’s scheduled to seem in the Berlin prison court docket in May this 12 months to contest the allegations of domestic violence levied on him by ex-girlfriend Brenda Patea.
Zverev was asked about the identical at his press convention after the first-round win at Melbourne Park as effectively, the place he responded with curt solutions and slammed some journalists for attempting to make a narrative out of the matter.
On Thursday, the former World No. 2 was much more curt, stating that he didn’t want his domestic abuse to be the first subject of debate after he received a marathon encounter. The question put to him was whether or not he could be attending the trial in particular person, a question he didn’t reply straight.
“Wow. That’s a question. I just played four hours, 40 minutes. That’s not the first question I really want to hear, to be honest. I’ve got no idea. It’s in May,” Zverev mentioned.
It was the solely question he confronted about the trial in the press convention, as the English portion of his interplay with the media was lower brief after that.
“There are journalists who follow the truth and there are journalists who want to sell a story” – Alexander Zverev
Speaking to German media following his first-round win at the Australian Open, Alexander Zverev positioned the blame on the media for sensationalizing his upcoming trial, stating that some journalists had been extra in promoting a narrative than the reality.
“There are journalists who follow the truth, like hopefully most of you, and who are also fair to the player, and there are journalists who want to sell a story. And selling the story is more important to them than selling the truth. And I’m assuming that there’s someone sitting here now who is exactly like that,” Zverev mentioned.
The World No. 6 additionally made a reference to his earlier domestic abuse allegations (levied by ex-girlfriend Olga Sharypova), the place he had been given a clear chit by the ATP later following an investigation.
“If that’s what he wants to do, that’s fine. They did the same thing a few years ago. We all know what the result was. Then suddenly everyone was very, very quiet, very, very quick. And now these two or three are coming up again and we all know their names,” he added.
Discussion about this post