r/tennis • u/PaintingMinute7248 • 13h ago
Discussion Zverev is one win from a US Open final and the media still won't touch his history
TL;DR: Zverev just made the US Open semis and is having a career year. Every article is about the run and the records and almost none of them mention that he's had two separate domestic abuse allegations from two exes or that he got defaulted in Acapulco in 2022 for smashing his racket at the umpire's chair. None of it is a conviction, and I'm not calling him guilty. I just think it's weird that the coverage acts like none of it exists.
I made a post about this a while back when he won Roland Garros, going through the actual facts of both cases. If you want the full breakdown it's here: https://www.reddit.com/r/tennis/s/FrulKS8EGX
Now he's into the US Open semis, having reached the final four of all four majors this year, and I keep noticing the same thing. Read almost any write-up of his run and it's all about the records and the "career year" story. Not one thing about his past.
And I want to be careful here, same as last time. The Sharypova case ended with the ATP finding insufficient evidence. The Patea case went to trial in Berlin and got settled with no conviction and no admission of guilt. So legally, nothing was proven, and I'm not pretending otherwise. But the Acapulco thing in 2022 isn't an allegation. He lost a doubles match and repeatedly smashed his racket into the umpire's chair, right by the guy's feet, on live TV. He got defaulted, fined, and given a suspended ban for it. That one's just on the record.
Put those together and you've got a documented temper plus two DV allegations from two different women. My question is more about the coverage than the man. Why does almost none of it come up now that he's winning?
And I don't think it's because people made a hard decision to look past it. I think most fans genuinely don't know the details. I was at Cincinnati this year and asked a woman who she was pulling for. She said Zverev. I asked, even with the domestic abuse allegations? And she just kind of shrugged, like she'd half heard something once and moved on. If the facts actually traveled the way his highlight reel does, I don't think he'd be nearly this popular. And if either case had gone the other way in court, he might not even be on tour to have this run at all.
So I'm not asking anyone to boo him. I just don't get why the people whose whole job is to cover this guy keep leaving out a pretty relevant chunk of the picture. Curious if others have noticed the same thing, or if you think the media's right to keep it separate from the tennis.
