Under the lights in front of a packed crowd at Rod Laver Arena, domestic violence has finally been brought to the forefront of discussion at the Australian Open.
No, Alexander Zverev, who is expected to be tried in May, was not in court. Instead, actress-turned-broadcaster Jelena Dokic, herself a domestic violence survivor, conducted the post-match interview with Aryna Sabalenka. She took matters into her own hands and asked Sabalenka to sign a towel, adding: “We will auction it for children and women affected by domestic violence.”
As the clouds continue to loom over this tournament, it was a brief but powerful moment from a woman who opened up about her experience of physical violence and harassment from her father in 2017.
On Friday, Olympic champion Zverev will compete for a place in the Australian Open final. His progress in this event brought to life the nightmare scenario that tennis administrators feared.
Last week, news broke that the world No 6 would face a public hearing in Germany next May over allegations of domestic violence. This is the latest in a series of allegations made against Zverev, which Zverev has consistently denied.
If he wins the title on Sunday, his off-court situation will be a public relations disaster for the ATP and Tennis Australia. Regardless, her run in Melbourne has brought tennis’ lack of a domestic violence policy into sharp focus.
Dokic’s decision to address the issue on Thursday was entirely on his own initiative. Rather than finalizing legislation to deal with Zverev’s situation, this served as a message to the powers that be that the sport is dragging its feet.
The ATP told Telegraph Sport when news of his upcoming hearing became public: “We are aware of the upcoming legal hearing involving Alexander Zverev and will not be commenting until this process is complete.” They are in a difficult situation from a legal perspective because they have failed to introduce any guidelines that would give them the power to ban a player from competing on such grounds.
Allegations of domestic violence have dogged Zverev for almost four years. First Olya Sharypova, a former Russian player and his girlfriend, claimed that Zverev physically and emotionally abused her during their relationship, including allegations that he punched her in the face at the 2019 ATP Masters in Shanghai. Her allegations were published in Russian media in 2020 and later in Slate magazine, but she did not pursue any legal action against Zverev, who called her allegations ‘untrue’ in a statement.
At the time, Andy Murray, among others, called on the ATP to introduce a domestic violence policy. The ATP has repeatedly said they are in the process of delivering one, but more than three years later that has yet to happen.
Sport isn’t known for being a proactive area in dealing with gender-based violence issues, but the ATP doesn’t have to look far to find domestic violence policies available across various leagues. The NFL’s have received the most attention after several incidents in which players were accused of assault or violent behavior off the field. Its policies now allow the league to place players on paid leave if they are formally charged with a felony or violent crime. Because evidence found in the NFL’s internal investigations may be sufficient to prove that its policies were violated, players may still be disciplined even if they have not been legally convicted of any crime.
There is still no such rule on the men’s tennis tour. It has been almost a year since Sharypova first made her allegations public, prompting the ATP to launch an investigation in late 2021. This took 15 months and by January 2023 there was “insufficient evidence to substantiate the published allegations of abuse”. Zverev cooperated fully with the investigation, even turning over his phone records, but most importantly, he was free to continue playing throughout the investigation.
He has failed to reach a major final during that time but has appeared in four semi-finals in the last three seasons. It’s no surprise that he’s currently in fifth place and two wins away from the biggest title of his career.
He will do so while dealing with formal legal proceedings regarding his second set of allegations against his ex-girlfriend and mother’s daughter, Brenda Patea. She claims he choked her during an argument in 2020. He reported the incident to the police in October 2021, and a German judge found enough evidence to sentence Zverev to a fine of up to 450,000 euros in November 2023.
Zverev called the sentencing decision “complete nonsense—-” and the upcoming hearing is a result of his appeal of that decision. His case will play out in court over 10 days from May, overlapping with both the French Open and Wimbledon. While he doesn’t have to be in Berlin for the hearing, it’s possible Zverev could make it to the next two majors while a trial continues in the background.
To add another issue to the mix, last month Zverev was also elected to the ATP Player Council by his fellow players. This means he could well contribute to the ATP’s domestic violence policy plans.
A tennis insider told Telegraph Sport that he felt the ATP was “leading with its chin” by allowing Zverev to be appointed to the players’ council, and felt sorry for many of the players who were asked to comment on the strange situation in the early days of the season. Australian Open.
Iga Swiatek, the women’s world No. 1 player, was asked to weigh in and said: “I guess it’s up to the ATP what they decide. “Of course, it is not a good thing to promote a player who faces such accusations.”
Active tennis fans were also affected. “As someone who pays hundreds of dollars for a seat at RLA [Rod Laver Arena] I can’t tell you how disappointed I am with Zverev playing tomorrow night,” someone wrote to ?
The Zverev case is a perfect example of why we need to take domestic violence as seriously as we take doping or cheating. In order to protect the integrity of the sport, there are ongoing bans in tennis while appeal processes continue.
So what happens to this honesty now? Tennis’ reputation is being tarnished because a man involved in serious legal proceedings is also on the verge of lifting one of the most important trophies in the sport.
If Daniil Medvedev eliminates Zverev from the tournament on Friday, there should be no general sense of relief among tennis administrators. This storm is not over and it was a storm they really should have seen coming.