A German court has ordered Alexander Zverev to pay his ex-girlfriend and mother of his child €450,000 to settle a long-pending domestic abuse case.
German Tabloid media Bild has reported that the German has been accused of physically assaulting Brenda Patea after an argument in Berlin in May 2020 but he has denied the charges.
Now it has been ascertained that the claims of her ex-partner were true and Zverev has been slapped with a fine of 90 daily rates of €5,000, totaling €450,000. The lawyer of the tennis star has dismissed the court verdict in a strong-worded statement.
“The procedure is scandalous,” read the statement. “There be no question of a fair, constitutional procedure. Mr. Zverev rejected the allegations made against him.
“The allegations made by the complainant alone on which the penalty order is based have already been refuted by a forensic medical report from the recognized Berlin forensic doctor Prof. Dr. Tsokos, Charité Berlin.”
Back in June, Zverev for the first time publicly issued a comment on the domestic abuse allegations in a press conference: “I completely reject the allegations. My lawyers are taking care of the matter. I won’t say anything more about it.”
With the latest court order against the world No. 8, it will become difficult for the tennis chiefs to overlook the proven charges against him. No action was been taken against Zverev when the accusations of physical abuse by her ex-partner surfaced in 2021.
Earlier in January, the ATP announced that they are in no position to penalize the Zverev following a 15-month investigation because of insufficient evidence.
An independent investigation that was initiated in Oct 2021 looked into the allegations of abuse at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Shanghai 2019 as well as on the other sites of tour including New York, Geneva and Monaco.
However, the investigators were unable to gather the proof required to substantiate the abuse claims and as a result no disciplinary proceedings were mandated against the 26-year-old by ATP.
ATP CEO Massimo Calvelli issued a statement: “The seriousness and complexity of these allegations required an extremely thorough investigative process and considerable resources.
“It also required us to turn to specialist investigators, which was new ground for ATP.
“We ultimately believe the exhaustive process was necessary to reach an informed judgement.
“It has also shown the need for us to be more responsive on safeguarding matters. It is the reason we’ve taken steps in that direction, with a lot of important work still ahead.”
Here is what Zverev said in his statement: “From the beginning, I have maintained my innocence and denied the baseless allegations made against me. I welcomed and fully cooperated with the ATP’s investigation and am grateful for the organisation’s time and attention in this matter.
“This decision marks a third, neutral, third-party arbiter who has reviewed all relevant information and made a clear and informed decision on this matter in my favor. In addition to the ATP’s independent investigation, I have also initiated court proceedings in Germany and Russia, both of which I have won.
“I am grateful that this is finally resolved and my priority now is recovering from injury and concentrating on what I love most in this world — tennis.
“I want to thank my friends, family and fans for their ongoing support. We followed the long and difficult process and justice has prevailed.”
Zverev now reserves the right to contest the penalty order verdict of the Berlin court, which would lead to a public trial.