Alexander Zverev’s compatriot Yannick Hanfmann expects the public to respect the verdict given in domestic abuse trial faced by his Davis Cup team-fellow.
Zverev is set to appear in the trial in May over domestic abuse charges that involve one his ex-partners. Although the German has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and the hearing which will occur after the world No. 5 contests a penalty order notice handed against him is clashing with the French Open. However, Zverev will be entitle to an exemption from the court.
In a statement released after his initial announcement of the penalty order last year, the tennis star’s lawyers issued a statement: “Mr. Zverev rejects the accusation made against him.
“The allegations made by the complainant, on which the penalty order alone is based, have already been refuted by a forensic medical report by the recognized Berlin forensic physician Prof. Dr. Tsokos, Charite Berlin.”
Few players have weighed in on the issue publicly but the former US Open finalist’s repute on the ATP Player Council has come under check.
Talking to Clay Magazine Hanfmann admitted that he had a friendly relationship with Zverev whom he had practiced with on a few occasions during the Davis Cup. The World No. 53 insisted that we should wait for the verdict but conceded that ATP had to take action in case Zverev pleads guilty.
“I don’t know any of the subject matter. I know what he’s accused of, but I don’t know if he’s guilty or not. So let’s hopefully make them figure it out. And then if he’s innocent, we don’t have to talk about it anymore and we move on.
“If he’s guilty, we’ll probably have to remove him from the Council. And the ATP will have to do something.
“I thought it was a little bit unfair to speak about it so much in Australia because he has a trial upcoming, not ongoing right now. To make that distinction I think is important. And let’s see what happens in May, June.”
An initial allegation of domestic abuse was levelled against Zverev by another ex-partner in October 2020.
The 26-year-old has also consistently denied that allegation and there has been no legal action against him regarding it while an internal ATP investigation into that matter found ‘insufficient evidence to substantiate’ the claims of the accuser.
Hanfmann believes it is up to ATP to decide how to deal with such situations in the future once a thorough investigation is done by authorities.
He added: “It’s such a tough topic. Maybe the ATP can develop an independent area to take care of this kind of things because we’ve had some issues with some players.
“But I trust in ATP, I trust that they do their good research of all these matters. And that they figure it out, that we don’t have these issues anymore in tennis. Because it’s a bad light for us.
“I don’t like it, of course, but let’s hope that whatever is happening with Sascha is nothing. I don’t like to hear about these things, of course. I hope that we players are good guys.”