Alexander Zverev did not last one round at this year's Mexican Open, and he was hardly gracious following his first-round defeat at the tournament.
Altmaier played one of the best matches of his career to earn a fourth career Top 10 win in two hours and 28 minutes. Zverev left tennis fans seething for giving countryman Altmaeir a frosty handshake after the match, which he lost in three sets.
As can be seen in the video below, Zverev barely even maintains eye contact as he locks hands with World No. 57. This is not the first time that Zverev has rubbed feathers with tennis fans. His recent off-court record has been marred with two cases of domestic abuse allegations against two of his ex-girlfriends.
He is due to appear in a court of law later this year after being accused by the mother of his child, Brenda Patea. Zverev has denied the allegations and received a penalty order from the court last year and was fined 450,000€.
He has been subjected to a lot of criticism on social media, and journalists have occasionally tried to field questions regarding his pending case. Zverev, for his part, has dodged the questions in his press conferences. The ATP is also monitoring the case closely and has not taken any action to suspend or fine the World No. 6.
Recently, though, Zverev enraged a lot of fans on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) for his frosty handshake in Acapulco. One user wrote, "Zverev most disgusting player on the tour."
Another fan wrote on Reddit, "Great work, Altmaier! Continuing his reputation as the one who beats the top 10, I see. Zverev is such a sore loser, even without the allegation he’s hard to like."
"Where's Netflix to record the prince of sportsmanship?" one user asked in relation to Zverev championing sportsmanship during an episode of Break Point but not exercising it in real life.
"You’re such a bitter loser @AlexZverev," another claimed.
Zverev's defeat means that he ends this year's Mexican swing without winning a title. He was the top seed in both Los Cabos and Acapulco.
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