Alexander Zverev was not impressed with a time violation warning at the 2024 Miami Open, which he felt was underserved.
Zverev has been playing really solid tennis so far, and he proved it at the season's first Grand Slam. It's been good to have the German back at his best, as he produced a pretty solid effort this week at the ATP 1000 event in Miami as well.
The courts are faster, his serve is deadly, and everything works for him as he's through to the semi-final after a win over Fabian Marozsan. During the match, though, Zverev clashed with the umpire, Greg Allensworth, because he got a time violation warning he thought was rather underserving.
The match was played in windy conditions, which isn't anything new for Miami, but Zverev took a bit too long in the fifth game of the second set, which got him a time violation.
He wasn't impressed by the decision and went over to the umpire to discuss it, pleading his case that it was because of the wind.
Zverev: "I'm waiting for the wind. What do you want me to do?"
Umpire: "We don't wait for the wind."
Zverev: "I can't serve when there's 50 miles an hour wind. If there is a gust, I have to wait for two seconds."
The situation obviously didn't end there, as Zverev used the changeover to express his frustration with how the rule was being enforced. Sometimes, it's enforced harshly, and sometimes, umpires tolerate it a bit more, which can be tough to gauge.
To be fair to the former world no. 2, it was windy, and there was a gust, and he refused to fake a ball toss just to get more seconds.
"You give me a warning one time when I'm over the time, and it was when there was a 40 mile an hour wind gust, and I'm waiting for him every single serve. Where are the rules? Where is the standard there? Then I can do a fake ball toss, catch it, and then do it all over again. But that's what everybody else does, I'm not doing that!"
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