Sport has a habit of sweeping things under the carpet when it suits. Look at soccer’s ruling body, FIFA, turning a blind eye to the deaths of 6,500 migrant workers who’ve been building stadiums for their World Cup in Qatar next year. Or those pro golfers conveniently forgetting their concern for widespread human-rights abuses to go pick up another paycheck for a tournament in Saudi Arabia.
Tennis is no different. At the recent Olympics in Tokyo, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili faced each other in the third round of the men’s singles competition and while Zverev prevailed and went on to win the gold medal, you would have been forgiven for not knowing that both men stand accused of domestic abuse from their former partners. The latter will soon face trial in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, for assaulting his ex-wife.
The professional Tour’s governing body, the ATP, is finding it increasingly difficult to subdue this elephant in the room. While they can leave Basilashvili’s case to the courts for now, Zverev’s situation is a lot thornier.
Aged 24, the German is the golden boy of men’s tennis and tipped to dominate the game once the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic finally move on into the sunset. Young, handsome and extremely talented, he has been front and center in the ATP’s promotional campaigns in recent years while also landing lucrative endorsements with the likes of Peugeot, Adidas, Rolex and Italian fashion house Zegna. Put simply, he is every inch the marketer’s dream.
But in October 2020, Zverev’s ex-girlfriend, Olya Sharypova, accused him of physical and emotional abuse, alleging that before the 2019 US Open, Zverev tried to suffocate her with a pillow at the Lotte New York Palace. She said she managed to escape, leaving via the hotel’s rear entrance and running barefoot down the sidewalk until help arrived.
“I really was scared for my life,” she told Racquet magazine. “I couldn’t breathe for some time.”
Later, in a hotel room in Geneva, she claims Zverev punched her in the face in a fight so brutal that she later tried to take her own life by injecting insulin into her body, even though she wasn’t diabetic. Sharypova also accused him of stealing her passport so she couldn’t escape and return to her native Russia.
“He made me feel that I don’t want to live anymore,” she said.
So far, Sharypova has declined to press any charges, saying “I just want to say the truth.”
Meanwhile, Zverev has “categorically and unequivocally ” denied the allegations. On Friday, he posted a statement on Twitter, saying: “I have engaged my German and American lawyers in the matter. They have already obtained a preliminary injunction against the source and the author who published the false allegations.”
For now, it’s his word against hers.
Other sports might suspend players facing similar accusations until their innocence is clear. In November 2020, Ryan Giggs — the Welsh national team manager and former Manchester United star — stepped aside amid pressure from the Welsh Football Association after he was accused of assaulting two women. He will go on trial in January 2022 and denies the allegations.
Meanwhile, what the ATP has issue two flimsy statements in nearly a year, neither of which mentioned Zverev or Basilashvili by name.
At first, the body said it “fully condemned any form of violence or abuse.” Then it followed up, announcing a comprehensive review of its safeguarding policies and a desire to set “possible next steps across a range of safeguarding matters, including those pertaining to domestic violence.”
That’s not good enough.
As former world No. 1 Andy Murray said last year, the ATP should have a domestic abuse policy so they “know what to do in that situation, rather than having to think and react to it . . . they need to take it extremely seriously.”
For now, the ATP is biding its time, hoping the legal system will figure out the mess. Basilashvili faces up to three years in prison or up to 400 hours of community service if he is found guilty of assaulting his ex-wife, Neka Dorokashvili, in front of their 5 year-old son.
But this approach won’t solve the Zverev problem.
Complicating matters for the ATP is the German’s outstanding form. One of the favorites to win the US Open, starting this week, he arrives in New York on the back of winning Olympic gold and, last weekend, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, the first player to achieve that feat since Andre Agassi in 1996. If he goes one better than last year, when he lost in the final, and lifts the trophy on Sept. 12, you can expect there to be significant disquiet.
In the #MeToo era, a victory for the Tour’s favorite son could end up being very uncomfortable for the ATP.
Gavin Newsham is a sports writer and the co-founder of Golf Punk magazine.