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The recently concluded Italian Open 2025 served up some great tennis throughout the tournament, along with some drama on the side as well. Coco Gauff and Alexander Zverev were among the players left irritated with the conditions at the tournament.
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) came under fire for not sticking to Chinese naming customs with regards to Zheng Qinwen. Mirra Andreeva was reduced to tears during her fourth-round match against Clara Tauson in Rome after an umpire's decision went against her.
Many felt that Jannik Sinner was seemingly given an unfair scheduling advantage after his quarterfinal opponent, Capser Ruud, had to play his previous match a day later. Here's a quick rundown of all the controversial moments of the past week:
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Alexander Zverev's title defense at the Italian Open ends on a sour note
Not defending a title is certainly a reason to be upset. For Alexander Zverev, the defending champion at the Italian Open, there were other factors that led him to losing his cool during the tournament. It all started with his curt response to an on-court question following his second-round win over Camilo Ugo Carabelli.
While Zverev won the BMW Open, an ATP 500 event, he had underperformed at other bigger tournaments. The interviewer pointed out the same, to which he had a rather pointed response.
"I mean, I didn't," he said in his response to the interviewer suggesting that he had suffered a fair few early losses at this year's 1000-level events. "But you know, I won a tournament two weeks ago, so I don't really like to think about it. That's your job thinking about stupid questions when the match is an hour long, so I'll leave it up to you," Zverev said.
Zverev then had an outburst during his quarterfinal loss against Lorenzo Musetti. He wasn't pleased with the balls as well as the court conditions. He even took a jibe at his opponent's strategy during the match.
"I don't know. I think he plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defense. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents. Today was difficult for me to hit winners. It was very slow, very, very heavy."
"Look at it. It’s impossible to play tennis with this sh*t. If this is entertaining tennis, I don’t know what the f**k we’re doing. I’m tired of this. We're playing with f**king kids' balls nowadays. No wonder the guy is f**king six feet behind the baseline," Zverev during the match.
Following an unsuccessful title defense, Zverev took a last-minute wildcard into the Hamburg European Open. He's through to the second round with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) win over Aleksandar Kovacevic. He will take on Alexandre Muller in the second round.
Casper Ruud's delayed match raised eyebrows due to potential leg-up to Jannik Sinner
The Italian Open was hit by torrential downpour, which caused some of the matches to be delayed. Casper Ruud's fourth-round match got pushed by a day, though his opponent Jannik Sinner was able to wrap up his match on the same day as per the original schedule. Many felt that the organizers opted to do so in order to give the home favorite a slight advantage.
Ruud didn't feel too bothered by it and beat his fourth-round adversary, Jaume Munar, quite comfortably. He then remained cautiously optimistic about his chances against Sinner despite not having a day of rest in between. That proved to be in vain as the World No. 1 handed him a 6-0, 6-1 beatdown. The Norwegian was due to compete at this week's Geneva Open, where he was the defending champion, but withdrew from the tournament.
Coco Gauff left frustrated with the conditions at the Italian Open
Coco Gauff earned a hard-fought win over Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals of the Italian Open. The match lasted for more than three hours, with both players giving it their all. While the 21-year-old was pleased with her perseverance, she didn't feel the same way about the conditions in Rome and aired out her grievances during her post-match conference.
"Honestly, the whole match for me the court was so slow. Especially when the ball after like two games, they're so heavy. This was my second night match. My first one was first round. I was playing someone completely different game style. Yeah, it was tough," Gauff said.
"I think we're both struggling trying to hit through each other. I think in Riyadh we had a little bit more winners, aggressiveness. Today we were trying, but the ball wasn't going anywhere. Yeah, the final I think is a little bit in the day, so hopefully it's a little bit faster," she said.
Gauff eventually lost to Jasmine Paolini in the final. She previously came up short against Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid Open final as well. She will next head to Paris for the French Open, where she's the defending champion in doubles.
WTA under fire for not using Zheng Qinwen's name as per Chinese customs
The WTA faced flak from fans for not adhering to Chinese naming customs while using Zheng Qinwen in a promotional photo for the Italian Open. When Chinese names are written in English, the last name or the family name is written first, followed by the given name.
The WTA instead went with Qinwen Zheng, when it should've been Zheng Qinwen, thus breaking the norm. This glaring mistake stood out as the names of all other players were spelled out properly. Fans vented their frustrations at this simple mistake, which they didn't expect an organization of such a caliber to make.
Mirra Andreeva left in tears after umpire's decision at the Italian Open
Mirra Andreeva and Clara Tauson were locked in a fierce battle in the fourth-round of the Italian Open. With the score tied at 1-1 in the third set, Andreeva hit a ball for a winner. The umpire called for the point to be replayed as the floodlights were turned on in the middle of the point.
Here's the clip (via Tennis Channel):
Andreeva contested this decision and stated that even if the floodlights weren't turned on, it would've been impossible for Tauson to get to the ball based on her court positioning. Unfortunately for the teenager, the umpire didn't relent, causing the youngster to break down in tears. Nevertheless, she regrouped quickly and went on to win the match as well. She later lost to Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals.
