"Zverev should not be on the courts" - Justine Henin on ATP's handling of recent incidents

Alexander Zverev should have been banned for his shocking outburst at the Mexican Open in February, claims Eurosport tennis expert Justine Henin.

Zverev was kicked out of the tournament after smacking the umpire’s chair with his racquet in the aftermath of a doubles defeat in Acapulco – narrowly missing the official’s feet – and branding him a “f****** idiot”. The German was handed a suspended eight-week ban and a suspended $25,000 (£19,000) fine, in addition to his earlier fine of $40,000 and forfeit of prize money and ranking points.

Many prominent tennis figures were not happy with the way ATP handled the incidents with many thinking his high profile status saving him from a longtime suspension. Justine Henin tends to agree saying:

“We have to take action. We hope concrete action will be taken so that these extremes stop. You can't yell at an umpire. Even if there is no intention, it is a problem to break a racquet that flies as far as a ball boy. You can be tired... but we can’t see the images of Alexander Zverev again. These are behaviours of intimidation, of rage, which we cannot see and which we must punish much more severely. He should not be on the court today, Alexander Zverev.”

Zverev is not only on the courts but he is playing Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the Monte-Carlo Masters final today. Henin further said:

"The misbehaviour is becoming unacceptable. I think we can rejoice in Kyrgios' tennis, in the moments when he plays wonderfully well – I admire that too – but there are extremes that we cannot accept. Zverev... even Medvedev at the Australian Open. Because where are we going to set the limit? Brooksby didn't even go to apologise to the ball boy. Kyrgios smashed his racquet and almost hit a ball boy – under the excuse that it did not hit the ball boy, they did not sanction him!"

She concluded:

“I think it's time to stop racquet smashes because these are images that we don't want to see on television. Top athletes must remain as role models, even if they are human.”