Alexander Zverev confirms what he said in German after blow-up over Carlos Alcaraz's timeout
Updated . First published at
Alexander Zverev has confirmed he described the decision to give Carlos Alcaraz a medical timeout for cramping as "bullshit" as he fumed during his Australian Open semi-final loss.
Alcaraz took the first two sets, and at 4-4 in the third had every chance of sealing the match.
At 15-0, he looked incredibly ginger during a point and hit a simple shot long, with Jim Courier describing it as "sloppy" on Nine.
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Alcaraz then struggled to walk freely and was clearly cramping. Zverev started to question why the serve clock hadn't started, but that wasn't the end of his fury.
The Spaniard won the game and was attended to by trainers before a medical timeout was called. Under the rules, players cannot take a medical time-out for fatigue or muscle cramping.
Zverev started to walk back on court before an official approached him and shrugged his shoulders.
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Carlos Alcaraz receives medical treatment. Getty
The German then spoke in his native language and blew up.
Post-match, Zverev confirmed, "I just said it was bullshit" when asked to effectively translate.
"He was cramping, so normally you can't take a medical timeout ... what can I do? It's not my decision. I didn't like it, but it's not my decision," he said.
Alexander Zverev in his press conference. Nine
Zverev continued that he couldn't exactly remember everything he said before laughing and saying, "It was 17 hours ago".
"I'm sure somebody has it on video, and you can check," he said.
The world No.3 was eager to move on and not talk too much about it.
"I think this is one of the best battles that ever was in Australia; it doesn't deserve to be the topic now," he said.
During the incident, Jim Courier was livid with the call.
"This is such a mistake, this is a travesty, this is not an injury, this is a cramp, they've totally botched this," he said.
"That's why Zverev is mouthing down right now, Zverev is completely right here."
Alexander Zverev talks to the grand slam supervisor Andreas Egli. Getty
Courier then noted Alcaraz had pickle juice in his mouth, the most common treatment for cramps.
Zverev gestured towards his team as he returned on the court with his frustration continuing to boil over.
The German then won the third set tiebreaker 7-3 to keep himself alive.
During the following set, Zverev was fired up again after being hit with a warning for taking too long in his break.
"That's a joke," he replied while gesturing towards Alcaraz's bench.
Alcaraz was also hit with a warning later in the match, but it didn't hurt him as he won in the five-set thriller.
Post-match, Zverev was also asked if he was surprised by how well Alcaraz recovered in the fifth set, and he had a smirk on his face in reply.
"Yeah, I mean, he took like an hour and a half off where he wasn't moving almost at all," he smiled.
"So again, maybe I should have used that better in a way. Maybe I should have won the games and won the sets a bit quicker.
"Then moving into the fifth, maybe he wouldn't have had so much time to recover. But the fifth set, the way he was moving, was incredible again."
