Alexander Zverev faced jeers from the partisan US Open crowd due to the slow pace of his service play as he faced home favourite Ben Shelton in the men’s singles final.
Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic had to remind the crowd to not make noise between the first and second serves after there were groans when Zverev aborted a ball toss on 3-3, 40-40 in the second set.
German world No 2 Zverev’s incessant bouncing of the ball before his serve was a talking point before the final after his semi-final opponent Karen Khachanov complained about the time he would take during serves.
“The way he bounces the ball, look, it annoys not only me, of course, a lot of players, because it takes so much time,” Khachanov said after Zverev was given a time violation during the match.
“At the end of the day, if it’s within the rules with the time between points, I cannot say anything against that,” Khachanov added. “If he extends the time, then he gets a time violation, so it’s as simple as that.”
Shelton, playing in his first grand slam final, appeared to be getting irritated by the pace of Zverev’s play after the French Open champion and Wimbledon runner-up took the first set on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Zverev had spent 19 hours and 38 minutes on court during his run to a second US Open final. According to Sky Sports, if Zverev then spent 10 seconds bouncing the ball before each serve, he would have spent two hours and 30 minutes of the tournament bouncing the ball.
Speaking after his semi-final, Zverev insisted it is not a deliberate ploy. He said: “I have no idea why. I’m not doing it on purpose. I saw a stat, like, I’d bounced it 12,000 times or something like that. That’s quite funny.”
