ATP: Finals & towel statement: Alexander Zverev makes an impression

Alexander Zverev made an impression in Shanghai on and beside the square. No matter what talents are attested to the 21-year-old from Hamburg, it is simply remarkable that he has now qualified for the ATP World Tour Final in London for the third time in his young career years. A comment by Jörg Allmeroth.

Participation in this unofficial world championship can be regarded as the supreme discipline in tennis; after all, participation certifies that every player has shown strong to outstanding performances throughout the tennis year.

A small blemish, which should not be hidden from Zverev: The youngster scored the majority of the points at the ATP tournaments, at the Grand Slams many wishes still remained unfulfilled, not least those of Zverev himself.

The question remains: Can Zverev start another strong autumn series and also play a stronger role in London than in the previous two years? In 2018 the German seems to be physically fitter, it’s also a result of the better dose schedule across the series.

And something else: Zverev spoke in Shanghai like hardly anyone else before in plain language about the antics of his professional colleagues, about the bad habit of extensive use of towels that has been repeatedly mentioned and commented on here. The topic had flared up after several professionals had behaved strongly wrong when dealing with ball children.

Roger Federer had also discreetly pointed out that ball children are altruistic participants in the big tennis show and deserve all conceivable respect.

Zverev, on the other hand, has made it even clearer and more pointed, the almost superstitious behaviour of some players when using towels. It is high time that the player organisations and the Grand Slams intervene and define a new code of conduct.