Anke Huber: It'd get boring if everyone behaved well like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal
by DZEVAD MESIC | VIEW 6010
Former world No. 4 Anke Huber says having well-behaved sportsman like Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer is good but the game would get boring without passionate outbursts. Nadal and Federer have always been near perfect role models and ambassadors for the game.
Even though Huber likes when a player shows passion and emotion, she admitted Alexander Zverev crossed the line in Acapulco. “I was very emotional on the court but I never projected that onto the referee, only onto myself – John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors used to make it quite normal for the referee to be attacked,” Huber told Eurosport Germany, as quoted on Tennis 365.
“Later we had this phase with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal who always behaved sportsman-like and very fairly, but if everyone just looks straight ahead and doesn’t make a peep, it gets boring. “I don’t think emotions are bad but they mustn’t be insulting and must remain within certain limits, if it gets too much you shouldn’t take the boys apart right away”.
Huber: What Zverev did wasn't right but that wasn't his true face
During an Acapulco doubles match, Zverev called the chair umpire an "idiot" and slammed his racket on the umpire's chair multiple times after the loss.
“With Alexander Zverev in Acapulco it was extreme, nobody liked seeing that, in my eyes however this is not his true face, he had played until five in the morning the day before, sometimes you have to look at the circumstances because he was certainly physically drained, but that’s no excuse,” Huber added.
“From my point of view the whole thing is also due to our free way of bringing up children. “That is reflected on the pitch, the respect has become less but that’s a general problem, the question is how the associations will continue to handle this, you can’t let and allow certain behaviours like that – a limit must be set."
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