Alexander Zverev’s Australian Open run is nightmare for tennis

Under the lights in front of a packed Rod Laver Arena, domestic violence was finally brought to the forefront of the conversation at the Australian Open.

No, Alexander Zverev, who is due to face trial in May, was not on court. Instead player-turned-broadcaster Jelena Dokic, herself a survivor of domestic abuse, conducted the post-match interview with Aryna Sabalenka. She took matters into her own hands and asked Sabalenka to sign a towel, adding: “We will auction it off for kids and women affected by domestic violence.”

It was a brief but powerful moment from a woman who revealed in 2017 her experience of physical violence and abuse by her father, as a cloud continues to hang over this tournament.

On Friday, Olympic champion Zverev will compete for a place in the Australian Open final. His progress at this event has brought to life the nightmare scenario that tennis executives have been dreading.

Last week news broke that world No 6 will face a public trial in Germany on allegations of domestic violence. It is the latest in a series of claims laid against Zverev, all of which he has consistently denied.

In the event he goes on to win the title on Sunday, his off-court situation will escalate into a full-blown PR disaster for the ATP and Tennis Australia. Regardless, his run in Melbourne has brought tennis’s lack of a domestic-violence policy into sharp focus.

Dokic’s decision to knuckle down on the issue on Thursday was completely of her own initiative. It served as a message that be the sport has dragged its feet, instead of finalising a code that would deal with this Zverev situation.

When news of his upcoming trial was made public, the ATP told Telegraph Sport: “We are aware of the upcoming legal trial involving Alexander Zverev, and will not be commenting until that process is complete.” From a legal standpoint they are in a sticky situation, as they have failed to introduce any guidelines which would give them power to ban a player from competing on such grounds.

Allegations of domestic abuse have followed Zverev for nearly four years. First Olya Sharypova, a former Russian player and girlfriend of his, alleged that Zverev physically and emotionally abused her during their relationship, including claims he punched her in the face at the 2019 ATP Masters in Shanghai. Her allegations were published by Russian media in 2020 and later by Slate magazine, though she did not pursue any legal avenues against Zverev who called her allegations ‘untrue’.

At the time Andy Murray, among others, called on the ATP to implement a domestic abuse policy. The ATP have repeatedly said they are in the process of delivering one but, more than three years on, that is yet to materialise.

Sport is not known for being proactive in dealing with issues of gendered violence, yet the ATP need not look too far to find domestic violence policies that do exist across various leagues. The NFL’s is the most high profile, after a number of players were accused of assault or violent conduct off the field. Their policy now allows for the league to put players on paid leave if formally charged with a felony offence or crime of violence. Players can also still be disciplined even if they are not legally convicted of any crime, as the evidence found by the NFL’s internal investigations can be enough to prove their policy was broken.

The men’s tennis tour still has no such rules. It took nearly a year after Sharypova first made her allegations public for the ATP to commission an investigation, in late 2021. That took 15 months and in January 2023 found “insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse”. Zverev cooperated fully with the investigation – even handing over phone records – but, crucially, was free to play throughout.

During that time he failed to reach the final of a major, but has played in four semi-finals over the past three seasons. It is unsurprising that he is now in his fifth, and two wins away from clinching the biggest title of his career.

He will do so while contending with formal legal proceedings, pertaining to a second batch of allegations from Brenda Patea, his former girlfriend and mother to his daughter. She alleges he choked her during an argument in 2020. She reported the event to police in October 2021, and a German judge found sufficient evidence to issue Zverev with a penalty order in November 2023 to the tune of a €450,000 fine.

Zverev called the penalty order “complete bull----” and the upcoming trial is a result of him appealing that decision. It will see his case played out over 10 days in court, beginning in May and overlapping with both the French Open and Wimbledon. Though he is not required to be present in Berlin for the trial, it is possible that Zverev may enter the next two majors while a court case rages on in the background.

To add another issue to the mix, this past month Zverev was also elected by his fellow players to the ATP Player Council. It means he could well have input into the ATP’s plans for the domestic abuse policy.

One tennis insider told Telegraph Sport that he felt the ATP was “leading with its chin” by allowing Zverev to be appointed to the player council, and felt sorry for the many players who were asked to comment on this awkward situation during the early days of the Australian Open.

Women’s world No 1 Iga Swiatek was asked to weigh in, and said: “I think it’s up to ATP what they decide. For sure it’s not good when a player who’s facing charges like that is kind of being promoted.”

Engaged tennis fans are affected too. “As someone paying hundreds of $ for a seat on RLA [Rod Laver Arena] tomorrow night I cannot tell you how disappointed I am that Zverev is playing,” one wrote on X, responding to the official Australian Open account which posted the order of play for Zverev’s third round match last week. “What on earth??? Why are you highlighting this person??”

The Zverev case is a perfect example of why we need to take domestic violence as seriously as we take doping or cheating. Bans take place within tennis all the time, even as appeal processes are taking place, in order to protect the integrity of the sport.

But what of that integrity now? Tennis is being brought into disrepute, because a man embroiled in serious legal proceedings is also on the verge of lifting one of the most important trophies in the sport.

If Daniil Medvedev knocks Zverev out of the tournament on Friday, relief should not be the overall feeling among tennis executives. This storm is not over, and it was one they really should have seen coming.