Players are often expected to give their hundred percent to the game. It would only be fair if they get the same treatment by organizers as well. The 21 ATP titles winner Alexander Zverev recently gave a statement criticizing the management of the China Open, post his victory against the world No. 21 Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.

Lately, the scheduling of the matches has been not up to the mark on the tour. Many players have been facing this problem of uncomfortable schedules which could have been handled in a much more systematic way. Once Zverev ended the match, he had very strong opinions to dish out about the whole situation.

Alexander Zverev detests tournament scheduling

Germany’s Zverev has been on an upward trajectory this year after suffering a gruesome injury in the 2022 French Open. His recent match against Davidovich was an enthralling affair, but it had its fair share of negatives. Although the German won the match quite easily, he wasn’t very happy regarding the scheduling, an all too familiar complaint in the tennis world.

The former US Open finalist said, “I’m happy with the win. Obviously, it’s difficult to play til 3 am. I’m not sure it was the right call to keep us on this court. I think we should’ve changed courts. We should’ve gone on. There’s so many great courts on the stadium. So many opportunities where we could’ve played. I’m not sure we should’ve waited til past midnight to start the match, to be honest.”

Zverev’s match ended at 2:40 a.m., way past midnight. Zverev expressed his distress, as he said that it’s not an easy thing to be playing till 3 a.m. He even suggested that the management team could’ve taken him and Fokina off this particular court.

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Zverev held his own against the Spaniard after losing the first set, winning 6-7(4) 6-2 6-1. But the aftermath of the late scheduling has certainly got the tongues wagging.

The reason behind Zverev’s indignation 

In Zverev’s honest opinion, he believes that it would have been smarter to switch courts. The match was held on the diamond court, one of the best at the China Open. However, the German went on with his theory stating there are many great courts in the stadium.

“I think we should’ve changed courts. We should’ve gone on. There’s so many great courts in the stadium. So many opportunities where we could’ve played. I’m not sure we should’ve waited til past midnight to start the match, to be honest.”

As per Alexander Zverev, the management missed a lot of opportunities to control the timings of this match. He even went on to say that waiting till past midnight is the wrong move. Zverev remained candid throughout this statement. He also has another match lined up for him to catch up with, the quarter-final of the men’s double. It seems like Zverev won’t have much time to completely overcome his exhaustion.

Be it the China Open or any other tournament, reports of bad scheduling have always surfaced. The management team should cast a better plan to avoid any failures in the future. What do you think about this issue? Let us know in the comments.

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