‘It made me feel better’ says racquet-smasher Zverev

Furious fourth seed Alexander Zverev crashed out of the Australian Open yesterday but said he “felt better” after smashing his racquet to pieces in frustration. Zverev erupted in the second set of a 6-1, 6-1, 7-6 (7/5) fourth-round humiliation by Canadian 16th seed Milos Raonic, hammering his racquet into the ground eight times to leave it a mangled mess. “Yeah, it made me feel better.

I was very angry, so I let my anger out,” he told reporters. And the volatile German was surprised when asked if he had done it before. “You never watched my matches? You should watch my matches,” he smiled. Zverev was tipped as a future Grand Slam champion after a breakthrough 2018 that saw him win the ATP Tour Finals, beating Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in the process.

Instead it was a familiar tale of woe as he failed to make the last-eight of a major for the 14th time in 15 majors. The world number four broke former world number three Raonic’s formidable serve at the start of the match but then imploded to lose nine straight games in an error-strewn disaster.