Alexander Zverev has bowed out of the Italian Open, having lost his quarter-final clash with Lorenzo Musetti.
Zverev is the second seed at the Italian Open, where the German hadn’t dropped a single set until his meeting with Musetti.
Having received a bye into round two of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, he overcame Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Vilius Gaubas and Arthur Fils.
But eighth seed Musetti proved too difficult to get past, with the Italian advancing to the semi-finals with a 7-6(7-1), 6-4 win.
The home favourite has now set up a last-four match against Carlos Alcaraz, who just knocked out British number one Jack Draper.
Alexander Zverev told not to make excuses after Italian Open ball complaints
And Zverev may have exited the competition, but he has since come under fire from Serena Williams’ former coach Rick Macci for his comments on the balls.
Despite his victory over Gaubas, a very confused Zverev said the balls are ‘much slower this year’ at the Italian Open.
That verdict continued after his loss to Musetti, with Macci now sharing his take on the complaints, writing on X: “Zverev was complaining about the balls too fuzzy and too soft.
“Always remember one thing. It is what it is. Your opponent hits the same ball. Greatness does not make excuses they excuse opponents.”
Tennis fans criticise Alexander Zverev for Italian Open exit ‘excuses’
As mentioned, the defending champion continued to express frustration with the balls following his exit in the Italian capital.
Sharing his take after falling to Musetti, he said: “Balls were a joke today. Generally speaking this is a subject we’ve had over the last three, four years now. Players are talking about it all the time. They say we play with the same ball in Monaco, Madrid, Munich.
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“Then we come here and the ball is totally different. The ball is very, very big. It’s very difficult to hit winners here. It’s just how it is these days.
“Of course, for me, for my game style, today was not easy because at the end of the day I’m still somebody that tries to play aggressive.”
Like Macci, many tennis fans have failed to sympathise with the world number two, with one writing on X: “How funny Zverev wasn’t complaining about the same balls or court when he won last year. Musetti had a really gutsy first set and deserves full respect.”
A second commented: “The first things Zverev should do, is learn to lose and give credits to the opponent that was better than him, and not looking for excuses.”
And a third wrote: “This attitude is what Lorenzo doesn’t have, and that’s why he won. Excuses!” with a fourth saying: “I didn’t know they had changed the balls compared to yesterday, when Zverev won a great match with Fils and didn’t complain about anything.”
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