'What Are You Doing': Zverev Bewildered By Australian Open Security Amid Protests
ATP
Alexander Zverev was left unhappy by an incident involving security not letting him into the gym after his latest Australian Open contest.
Zverev played Cameron Norrie for a place in the Australian Open quarterfinals. It turned out to be a highly eventful encounter, with drama on-court, in the stands, and afterward in the players' area.
The match was of extremely high quality, and one of the best at the event so far. Zverev prevailed against Norrie in five enthralling sets. He needed a 10-point tiebreak to eventually get over the line.
There was also an unexpected delay in the middle of the third set when a Free Palestine protester disrupted play. Surprisingly, there was no immediate security presence to deal with the issue, with spectators getting involved to escort the woman out of the stadium.
Zverev commented about the situation in his press conference and said it should not have been left to fans to try and deal with the issue.
"But I think when something like this happens, it shouldn't be another fan dragging the other person out. It should be the security guys who should be there quite quickly. It shouldn't take them three, four minutes, that long."
The 2020 US Open runner-up contrasted this with how strict security is in the players' area and was left particularly frustrated by an incident involving the gym area.
"I played obviously five sets, four hours, some minutes. I went to the locker room, and the gym area is right next to the locker room. They wouldn't let me into the gym because I forgot my credential in the locker room."
Zverev felt more common sense should be used since it seemed clear that the people around the tournament knew who the players were so deep into a Grand Slam.
"What are you doing? You're protecting players from players. That's not really the whole point..... I think that should be the opposite. It should be where it's already the quarterfinals and you know the players."
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