18-time Grand Slam winner Chris Evert says she's worried about elite tennis players having 'breakdowns' after a spate of angry, aggressive behavior
- Several high profile instances of angry, aggressive behavior from players have blighted tennis in 2022.
- 18-time Grand Slam winner Chris Evert says the incidents make her worry for the mental wellbeing of players.
Women's tennis legend Chris Evert, who won 18 Grand Slams, says she is concerned about the mental wellbeing of elite male stars amid increasing numbers of angry on-court incidents from the world's best players.
"I worry about the players," Evert said in an interview with Eurosport this week.
"I'm not making any judgments on the players, but it's an area of concern: Why are players losing control and breaking rackets and putting others in harm's way?
"Why are they breaking down on the court emotionally? It's something that needs to be addressed. It's something that needs to be talked about."
Evert's comments come after a string of high profile incidents involving elite men's players losing control on the court in recent months.
In perhaps the most prominent example, Germany's Alexander Zverev, who is ranked third in the world, attacked the umpire's chair at the Mexican Open in February.
Zverev was competing in the men's doubles alongside Marcelo Melo in Acapulco when he began quarreling with the umpire during a final set tie-break.
After opponents Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara then sealed victory with an ace on the following point, the German proceeded to walk over to the umpire's chair and smash it with his racket multiple times, forcing Germani to lift his feet out of the way.
Elsewhere, world No. 2 Daniil Medvedev frequently berated umpires during his run to the Australian Open final in January, while Australia's Nick Kyrgios and the American Jenson Brooksby have come close to hitting ball kids with errant rackets, thrown in anger, in recent weeks.
Evert went on to say that she also feels for umpires and other officials, who are often on the receiving end of verbal volleys from players, being called variations of insults like "stupid" and "idiot," often including expletives.
In a recent incident, Kyrgios called for the umpire officiating his fourth round match at the Miami Open to be "fired on the spot."
"I don't know any other sport where the athlete abuses the official as much as tennis," Evert told Eurosport.
"I worry about the behavior of players and I even worry about breaking down emotionally on the court and walking off in the middle of a match, and I worry about the emotional and mental relapses or breakdowns that these players are having," she said.
The growing number of incidents in men's tennis led the ATP this week to send a memo to players urging restraint and empowering umpires to hand out stricter punishments for ill discipline.
"Effective immediately and as we head into the clay court swing, the ATP officiating team has been directed to take a stricter stance in judging violations of the Code of Conduct," the memo said.