Loud music briefly throws the Olympic champion out of rhythm: Alexander Zverev reached the round of 16 at the ATP Masters in Cincinnati. The 26-year-old from Hamburg defeated the Japanese Yoshihito Nishioka 7:5, 6:4 on Wednesday. In the first set, Zverev complained several times to the officials about disturbing sounds from the boxes in the neighboring square, but then fought his way through.
“We’re playing in one of the most important tournaments of the year. Why can’t you just switch it off?” asked the former world number two angrily, who now faces a tricky task in the round of 16. He meets the strong Russian Daniil Medvedev, whom he has already lost three times this year.
Zverev, tournament winner of 2021 at the Western and Southern Open of Cincinnati, had also fought a verbal duel with Medvedev. After a game in Monte Carlo in April, he called the US Open champion “one of the most unfair players we have in the world.”