Alexander Zverev is an exceptional athlete. The 24-year-old, who comes from a Russian tennis family, has developed into one of the stars of his sport thanks to his talent and ambition. The 1.98 meter tall athlete won 17 tournaments on the professional tour, including the 2018 ATP Finals in London, which are considered a kind of world championship. At the US Open 2020 he was only two points short of his first Grand Slam victory in the final against Austrian Dominik Thiem.
For this, Zverev, number four in the world rankings, won another award in August this year: Olympic gold. “I can’t compare that to anything,” said Zverev in Tokyo, “you can’t achieve anything greater in sport.” In his native Hamburg, he signed the Golden Book before traveling to Monte Carlo, where he lives. Zverev plays in the top league – although his story also includes the fact that his career has been burdened by a difficult topic for a good year.
It’s about allegations of domestic violence, which his former Russian friend Olga Sharipova has expressed in detail in two long articles. The first appeared in tennis magazine on November 5, 2020 Racquet entitled “Olya’s Story”. The second on August 25, 2021 on the Internet platform slate.com entitled “Every Day, I Was Crying”. In both cases, the author was Ben Rothenberg, a well-known tennis journalist who was also responsible for the New York Times reported. After both releases, Zverev firmly denied the allegations.
According to the current state of affairs, presumably only two people know the truth
“I very much regret that these allegations were made and I must repeat that they are wrong,” he said around November 2020 at the media day in London at the start of the ATP Finals. Last August, shortly before the US Open 2020 and after the Slate article was published, Zverev replied that the allegations were based on “false assumptions and assumptions”. Since Sharipova refrained from filing a lawsuit against Zverev and stressed that he did not want to take legal action, there has not yet been a case on file. Until this Monday.
The ATP, the association of professional tennis players, announced that an internal investigation would be carried out into the 2019 ATP tournament in Shanghai, which, according to Sharipova, was said to have resulted in a violent act by Zverev against her. The private case of the two has thus developed into an official case, at least on the tennis tour, although it still seems more unclear than clear. So far, the dispute between Sharipova and Zverev has been on the level of testimony against testimony. According to the current state of affairs, only the two presumably know the truth.
Sharipova’s public allegations of physical and psychological violence also relate to visits to three tennis tournaments where she accompanied her then boyfriend Zverev during their 13-month relationship. The two have known each other since they were young, both are of the same age, Sharipova was a good tennis player. In 2019 at the US Open in New York and the Laver Cup in Geneva, Zverev is said to have become palpable. In the incident in Switzerland, she even attempted suicide, she described in Racquet magazine.
Since both the major tournament in the USA and the Laver Cup, the show event run by Roger Federer’s agency, do not fall under the jurisdiction of the ATP, the men’s tour could initially ignore public demands for action . But when Sharipova expressed allegations in the Slate article that should have occurred on the sidelines of the ATP Masters Series tournament in Shanghai, public pressure on the association grew. And one thing was clear: the topic never disappeared. Especially not on the internet.
The ATP had to listen to criticism for its passive behavior for many months – now it is reacting
As is the case today, the case divided the social media fan base into two camps. Many users who supported Sharipova gathered behind the hashtag #IbelieveOlya. Zverev was and is defended there by many of his supporters. Often the camps are completely irreconcilable and the tone is often harsh. In the meantime, as the case has developed so dramatically, some official factions in the tennis industry already seem divided. TV commentator Mary Carillo, for example, stepped down from her job at the Laver Cup in September. She then criticized in a podcast that Sharipova’s allegations were not properly processed and that she could not reconcile it with her conscience to pay tribute to Zverev in Boston while such a case was pending.
The ATP had to listen to criticism for its passive behavior for many months, especially in comparison with other sports that take a more consistent position on the issue of domestic violence, such as the NBA in basketball. Especially since another ATP professional, the Georgian Nikolos Bassilashvili, is exposed to accusations of violence; Unlike Sharipova, his ex-wife took legal action. Zverev expressly welcomed the fact that the ATP is now investigating in his statement on Monday. “I’ve asked the ATP for an independent investigation for months,” he said. And again he stated: “I categorically and unequivocally reject all these allegations”, they are “defamatory and untrue”. ATP managing director Massimo Calvelli, on the other hand, described Sharipova’s allegations as “serious, we have a responsibility to deal with them”. He also said, “We hope that our investigation will enable us to establish the facts and determine appropriate follow-up.” Calvelli did not say what the investigation should look like and what measures could follow. SZ inquiries about the case left Zverev’s manager, his brother Mischa and Sergej Bubka, who also works in the Zverev team, unanswered.
Zverev, who joins the Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells this week (after a bye), also said that his lawyers had obtained an injunction “against the publisher and the journalist”; which obviously means Rothenberg’s reporting. But they, according to Zverev, “both deliberately violate this court order with their refusal to withdraw the reporting and also with the fact that they continue to spread the allegations repeatedly on social media. My lawyers have taken further steps”. Zverev should not be lacking in support, also from a PR point of view. At first, when the case first became public, he was advised by former government spokesman Béla Anda. The New York agency Berk Communications is now looking after him. According to the homepage, one of their specialties: “Reputation Management”.