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Federer, Zverev React to Controversial Let and Boos


Alexander Zverev shouldn’t be booed—let’s leave it at that—says Roger Federer, after a bizarre afternoon at the O2 Arena ended with the German receive smatterings of boos from the pro-Federer crowd.

“Booing, I never like it,” Federer told reporters on Saturday after falling to Zverev 7-5, 7-6(5), according to George Bellshaw of Metro.UK. “We see it in other sports all the time, but in tennis it’s rare. So when it happens, it gets very personal and we take it very direct.”

To be fair, it wasn’t a unanimous reaction from the crowd—just small smatterings that were predominantly drowned out by respectful, cheering fans in London. But it was enough to throw Zverev off his game. The German profusely apologized during his on-court interview with Annabel Croft, and even Croft herself took a stab at admonishing the crowd.

“I’m not sure why you’re all booing… I think you have to be a little bit more respectful,” she told them.

“I think it’s unfortunate that this happened. Sascha doesn’t deserve it,” Federer said. “He apologized to me at the net. ‘I was like, “Buddy, shut up. You don’t need to apologize to me here. Congratulations on a great match and a great tournament so far. All the best for the finals.’”

Zverev can be a self-assured and sometimes even over-confident athlete, but today’s events really shook him.

“When the booing was happening, it’s never a nice feeling,” he told reporters, adding: “Obviously a lot of emotions going on through my head. I was really upset afterwards in the locker room, as well. I’m not going to lie. I had to take a few minutes for myself.”

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