"I think breaking a racket on a tennis court is the lowest for me" - Wilander wants more action from ATP

Mats Wilander is adamant that Alexander Zverev should “be taken off the Tour” for a while following his expulsion from the Mexican Open, saying players are setting a bad example for children with their poor behaviour.

Zverev was kicked out of the ATP 500 event in Acapulco in February after he verbally abused the chair umpire and also hit the official’s chair several times with his racket. The German was also fined and lost his ranking points, but the ATP opted against any further punishment as they instead only gave him an additional suspended fine and ban.

Former world number one and respected analyst Mats Wilander praised the ATP's promise to enforce stricter rules but he wants to take it even further:

“In tennis you learn how to behave properly, you learn how to call things out that are close and call them in, you make your own calls, you call the score out. It’s just a game where you learn a lot about life and educate and rules and these guys are taking it to a complete different level."

On the recent uptick on racquet smashing in tennis, Wilander said:

“I actually think it’s horrible. I think breaking a racket on a tennis court is the lowest for me because most kids, they cannot afford to buy tennis rackets. I think it’s wrong. I think it’s completely wrong. That’s why I asked: I think Zverev needs to be not on probation, he needs to be taken off the Tour for a month, two months, maybe it’s the first Grand Slam, maybe it’s the first ATP Masters 1000 but something that hurts him rather than just be able to not do the same thing again and then I’m fine. It doesn’t make sense. Life doesn’t work like that.”