Alexander Zverev appears to have been busted in an incident of “dirty cheating” at the French Open.
Video has emerged of the German’s coin toss with Aussie Alex de Minaur before their quarter-final on Thursday morning — and it does not look good for the four-time Roland Garros semi-finalist.
De Minaur struggled against Zverev throughout their 6-4 7-6 6-4 match, but he will also be cursing himself after missing golden opportunities to take the second set.
Zverev landed his first blow of the encounter before the match even began when he appeared to rob de Minaur of a chance to choose if he would serve or receive.
Videos of the incident have begun to spread across cyberspace with tennis commentators suggesting Zverev’s actions were deliberate.
The No. 4 seed called “ball” when the coin was tossed by a local mascot, but the coin landed on the “racquet” side.
Zverev was seen handing the coin back to chair umpire Damien Dumusois before the official looked towards the Australian to make the decision and said: “You tell me, Alex”.
However, Zverev then jumped in to say: “No, I said racquet”.
When asked by the umpire if he really guessed correctly, Zverev responded: “Yes”.
Zverev then looked to de Minaur and said: “But if you want to go, you go. I’ll receive”.
Tennis commentators have slammed Zverev over the incident.
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Canadian tennis commentator Ben Lewis wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “How is Alexander Zverev getting away with dirty club level cheating in the quarterfinals of Roland Garros?”
Leading tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg wrote: “I have never seen such casual, committed scammery in tennis like this before”
Tennis fan account ‘Tennis Blockade’ also captured the video, writing: “Zverev lying, scamming and gaslighting… during a coin toss, this time”.
Zverev has struggled to win over the French Open crowds throughout the tournament and this won’t help.
The crowd was cheering strongly in favour of de Minaur throughout their quarter-final.
Zverev is giving French Open officials a huge headache with the controversial star still facing a court case in Germany.
The optics of Zverev lifting the trophy is something few French fans want to see.
Zverev has been allowed to continue to play on the international circuit despite an ongoing court case in Berlin where he has been accused of intentional bodily harm and intentional choking of his previous partner Brenda Patea.
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Alexander Zverev will be looking to avenge last year’s comprehensive semi-final defeat by Casper Ruud in their last-four clash.
While Zverev has played two five-set matches this week, Ruud has not played since Tuesday.
He was due to face reigning champion Novak Djokovic in a repeat of last year’s final but the world number one was forced to withdraw with a knee injury, handing the seventh seed a walkover into the semis.
Zverev will be playing in his fourth successive Roland Garros semi-final, but is yet to reach the final and still has not won a Grand Slam title.