VIDEO | Boos after beating Roger Federer leave Alexander Zverev on the brink of tears
Tennis is an emotional game for both fans and players alike and it tends to flow out when a game is tight. Yesterday, in the semi final of the ATP Finals, Alexander Zverev was left distraught after fans inside the O2 Arena started booing him following his win over favorite Roger Federer.
Zverev had already won the first set of the match by breaking Federer in the last game of the set and the game had gone into a tie breaker in the second when all hell broke loose. With Federer leading 4-3 in the tie breaker, the players were in between a rally when Zverev suddenly asked the point to be stopped. He walked over to the chair umpire and explained that a ball boy standing behind Federer had dropped the ball and made a movement forward to collect it which had broken his concentration.Â
The Chair umpire asked the ball boy to confirm the error and the young kid, to his credit, was quick to admit his mistake. Federer, too, did not make a big deal of the situation as it is not something that has not happened in tennis before. The crowd, however, did not take it that well. All around the packed O2 Arena, boos rang out in unison which was compounded by Zverev hitting an ace when the point was replayed.Â
While Zverev held his nerve to seal the match in the second itself, he was not that calm when it came to the post-match interview. With boos still coming down on him, Zverev apologised to the fans while stating that he had not wanted to create a problem.
"I apologised to Roger at the net, he told me 'it's okay, it's in the rules’,” Zverev said after the game.
"I want to apologise to the crowd, Roger has a lot of fans here and for what he's achieved he should have. I'm very sorry that this happened I didn't mean to upset anybody - that's all I can say, sorry."
Federer, however, decided to side with Zverev on the issue stating that although he understood the crowd’s frustration, he has never liked the concept of boos in tennis.
"It's all good. I hope he doesn't have a sleepless night. It's not a big deal at the end of the day,” the 37-year-old said.
"Whatever happened, this is life, this is
"Booing, I never like it. We see it in other sports all the time, but in tennis it's rare. So when it happens, it gets very personal and we take it very
