‘The worst moment of my life’ – Alexander Zverev opens up on Mexican Open outburst

Alexander Zverez has labelled his expulsion from the Mexican Open as the ‘worst moment of his life’.

Zverev was kicked out of the ATP 500 tournament for verbally abusing umpire Alessandro Germani and smashing his racquet into the umpire’s chair multiple times during a doubles match.

The 24-year-old was fined $40,000 (£31,000) and forfeited more than $31,000 (£23,640) in prize money, while he has been subsequently handed a suspended eight-week ban and further suspended $25,000 (£19,060) fine by the ATP.

<p lang=«en» dir=«ltr» xml:lang=«en»>Alexander Zverev has been THROWN OUT of the Mexican Open for attacking the umpire’s chair at the end of his doubles match ð®ð®ð® pic.twitter.com/CWhQ1r6kwj

The ban and additional fine will kick in should he be fined for any unsportsmanlike conduct over a probation period ending one year after the incident, which occurred on February 22.

“I can guarantee you I will never act this way again in my career. It was definitely the worst moment of my life, of my career, in general,’ he told reporters

‘If I do that again, they have every right to ban me. It’s as simple as that,’ Zverev added.

‘If I do that again it means I haven’t learned, right? I think everyone in life deserves a second chance, everybody makes mistakes. But if you repeatedly make mistakes, it means you haven’t learned.

‘So if that happens again, you should ban me. But I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen, not only in the next year but my whole career.’

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When quizzed