Following his disqualification from the Abierto Mexicano Acapulco due to his attack on the umpire, Alex Corretja believes Alexander Zverev went too far on Tuesday night.
Fueled by emotion and upset about a questionable call, Zverev smashed a racket at the feet of the umpire after he lost in a doubles match. The World No.3 has since apologized for his behavior, and Corretja stated that while it was good that Zverev was showing his emotions on court, he believes the German went too far.
“You need to control your emotions,” Corretja said. “Of course, I'm not in favor of breaking racquets. But I can understand that you can break a racquet. I did break racquets, and I'm not proud of it. I regret that.
“I think what happened to Sascha is he totally lost his mind. And it is different. If you go out there and break a racquet. That's not good, of course. The moment where you react and feeling your anger, you just destroy the racket because you're not playing well.
“When you are against the umpire, and you hit the racquet against the chair and try to smash the racquet you are insulting him/her. This is a line which you absolutely cannot cross."
Corretja added that while he understood Zverev's passion about the sport, the 24-year old needed to show more self-control.
“The good part is, of course, he's showing that he cares, caring about the doubles, which is good.
"But this is absolutely off the wall, you cannot do that. And it's fine if sometimes you just go out there and complain about yourself. But if you go further than that then that is too much."