Australian Open star breaks rank with Zverev comment after domestic abuse trial set
A trial date has been set for Alexander Zverev's domestic abuse case in Germany.
Australian Open star Daria Kasatkina has broken rank and been the first player at the Grand Slam to openly give their view on Alexander Zverev and his upcoming trial over domestic abuse allegations, which he has denied. Several of the world No. 6’s peers have been asked about the case but those questions have largely been batted away and not discussed in depth.
In October, a Berlin court issued Zverev with a penalty order and fines amounting to 450,000 euros (£387,000) after he was accused of "bodily harm" against his ex-girlfriend. He has contested the order, which sent the case to a public trial that was recently set for May 31.
That falls during the French Open but Zverev, who is legally innocent until a final ruling under German law, is not required to attend the trial in person and can be represented by his lawyer.
Zverev was asked whether he feels that it is appropriate to continue in his new role on the ATP Player Council and was frosty in his response, not wishing to discuss the matter further in Melbourne.
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Several other players have similarly decided against discussing the case, but world No. 13 Daria Kasatkina has commented on Zverev in her rant on social media about the TV coverage of the Grand Slam.
“No women’s tennis shown on TV,” the Russian star wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter). “They are playing on Rod Laver, prime time and for what don’t wanna say who they actually showing now.”
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The match that Kasatkina was referring to was Zverev’s first-round 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over fellow German player Dominik Koepfer. When a fan responded that they would much rather watch Zverev over a female player that was not a home star, Kasatkina replied with: “If you’re a female, then I would advise you to make a research about the guy you wanna watch and think again.”
In Zverev’s first media appearance since a date was set for his upcoming trial, the 26-year-old answered just four questions in English and made it clear that he felt that the line of probing was unnecessary.
He then went on to survive a scare against qualifier Lukas Klein in the second round, admitting that the Slovakian "probably deserved to win more" but the Olympic champion came out on top 7-5 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (10-7).
The match took over four hours and when Zverev was quizzed again over his upcoming trial in Berlin, he batted away the only English question of his press conference.
When asked if he planned to attend the trial in person, Zverev replied: “Wow. That's a question. I just played four hours, 40 minutes. That's not the first question I really want to hear, to be honest. I've got no idea. It's in May.”