Roger Federer didn't lose because of ball boy incident, says pundit
The former world no. 12 and Sky Sport Italy pundit Paolo Bertolucci believes Alexander Zverev was right in the controversial case involving him, Roger Federer and the ballboy in the second set tie-break on Saturday in the ATP Finals semi-final. 'The (ballboy) ball was about to enter in the court,' said Bertolucci. 'If he (Zverev) saw that, it means that for a second he stopped looking at the ball so repeating the point was a right decision.'
Bertolucci was not surprised about the crowd's reaction towards Zverev: 'The O2 Arena crowd is not the same as Wimbledon, a little bit like Paris Masters with French Open. These are fans who come to watch tennis but do not have the same culture as the ones who attend Wimbledon. Zverev could have maybe hit the second serve and instead hit ace. But considering the moment and the importance, rules allowed him to hit a first serve. It's like a penalty in football: if the umpire booes even if it's not a penalty, let's see if a footballer says that he fell alone and that it is not a penalty. Impossible!'
For the Sky Sport Italy journalist Stefano Meloccaro, Roger Federer's 2018 season was still an 'amazing one' despite some disappointments, including the last one against Alexander Zverev in the ATP Finals' semi-finals. 'He spent weeks as world no. 1 this year, he won four titles, he is 37 years old, he is happy and he said that he is looking forward to the next season', said Meloccaro at the O2 Arena. 'We can be worried just because next year we will speak about a 38-year-old Federer and not 37.'
About Zverev getting booed at the end of the match, Meloccaro added: 'The crowd reacted the way a player's fan react, there was some booing and people did not even understand well what happened.'
Meloccaro concluded: 'Federer lost this match because on 6-5 first set he gave a game. Same thing at the beginning of the second, he finally manages to break Zverev to lead 2-1 and then plays his worst game of the match. At this level you cannot afford to make such mistakes.'
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from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ztnDJN
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