This year’s US Open has witnessed the “Hitler phrase” being used from the stands. The highly contentious incident took place during the men’s singles last 16 fixture between Germany’s Alexander Zverev and sixth-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner. Following a complaint raised by Zverev, the fan was asked to leave the 23,000-odd capacity Arthur Ashe Stadium for allegedly using language from Adolf Hitler’s reign. The alleged Hitler chant, however, did not impact Zverev much as the 26-year-old breezed past Sinner 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a five-set thriller to qualify for the quarter-finals.
While serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his encounter, Zverev was seen approaching the chair umpire James Keothavong to complain about the alleged taunting. “He just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world. This is unbelievable,” Zverev reportedly told the umpire. Keothavong had initially asked the fan to identify himself. Later, during the changeover, fans reportedly spotted the actual culprit.
According to news agency AFP, a spectator, wearing a blue baseball cap, was identified as the offender and he was ordered to leave the stadium. Zverev did lose the fourth set but he eventually came up with a spirited gameplay in the final set to eliminate Sinner from the US Open.
“A disparaging remark was directed toward Alexander Zverev. The fan was identified and escorted from the stadium,” US Tennis Association spokesman Chris Widmaier was quoted as saying by news agency AP.
In a post-match interaction, Zverev opened up about the controversial incident. “He started singing the anthem of Hitler that was back in the day. It was ‘Deutschland über alles’ and it was a bit too much. I think he was getting involved in the match for a long time, though. I don’t mind it, I love when fans are loud, I love when fans are emotional. But I think me being German and not really proud of that history, it’s not really a great thing to do and I think him sitting in one of the front rows, I think a lot of people heard it. So if I just don’t react, I think it’s bad from my side,” Zverev said.
Zverev required a little more than four hours to get the better of Sinner at the Flushing Meadows. The exhausting round of 16 match between Zverev and Sinner got over at 1.39 am local time on Tuesday. In his next fixture, Zverev will be up against the current world number one and the defending US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz. Zverev holds a slight edge over the Spaniard with a 3-2 record in their overall head-to-head meetings.
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