Rafael Nadal criticized Alexander Zverev’s outburst in the ongoing Mexican Open. The German first verbally abused the chair umpire during his doubles match and then smashed his racquet near the umpire’s foot, nearly hitting him. As a result, Zverev was disqualified from the tournament.

In fact, this is not the first time Sascha has reacted aggressively against the chair umpire in his career. Nadal feels incidents like these throw the sport in a bad light and added that this type of attitude must be stopped because the young kids are looking at role models like Alexander Zverev. However, Zverev went on to apologize for his actions.

Nadal said, “This type of attitude must be stopped because there are many children looking at us. Sport must maintain positive values and we have to be aware that we are role models for millions of children,” Nadal said.

Nadal however showed sympathy for the German and feels he will learn from an incident like this.

“I can only say that it is an unfortunate act and that I feel sorry for him because I have a good relationship. He deserves this sanction, you cannot act like this. He is aware of it and it will serve as a learning experience for him,” he added. “I think his statement is positive because he apologizes and understands that this should help him so that something similar does not happen again.”

Meanwhile, Nadal defeated lucky loser Stefan Kozlov by 6-0, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 event. Thus, this has been the best start of the season for the Spaniard in his glorious career as he has won 12 matches in 2022 without losing a single game. Nadal had won 11 matches back in 2014 before losing the Australian Open final against Stan Wawrinka.

Nadal will next face America’s Tommy Paul in the quarterfinal on Friday.