Mats Wilander has called upon the ATP to punish Zverev 'accordingly' as he was left quite amazed by his aggressive outburst on a tennis court.
The incident brought attention to another incident that has somewhat been forgotten due to a lack of coverage and the silent treatment the ATP gave it. His domestic violence abuse has come back into the spotlight after his aggressive outburst in Acapulco showcasing some level of emotional immaturity from the German.
Wilander did not hold back in a talk to Eurosport:
“If a player breaks his racquet on the umpire’s chair and he is literally a few centimetres away from hitting the umpire’s leg, he should not be allowed to get on a tennis court until he has gone through some kind of rehab, some kind of time. We need to punish him accordingly, and allowing him to come out and play professional tennis the week after or two weeks after, that is too soon."
Wilander continued his rant:
“To me, money does not do it, and I
think you either give someone with that behaviour a three-month
suspension or a six-month suspension. You do not allow him to play the
most important tournaments on his calendar. Now, the most important
tournaments are most probably the Grand Slams, the ATP 1000, the Davis
Cup. I mean, I do not know where you draw
the line, but certainly going out and competing in any shape or form
straight away, it does not seem like that is very fair to other players."
He further said:
“So no, it is not great for tennis. For him personally, it is most
probably a good move that he can suddenly start playing, not just for
himself, but to play for his country and his team-mates. But no, I think
that is … it does not send a great message for professional tennis. I applaud him for being an emotional wreck at the end of the loss in
a doubles match – that just shows that he cares, but you have to show
that you care in different ways.