Alexander Zverev defeated Flavio Cobolli in the French Open final to win his first Grand Slam title.
It was a day Zverev had always dreamed of, but the match wasn’t without its fair share of controversy.
How many more Grand Slams does Alexander Zverev win now?
What a final!
With the German struggling physically, his teammate, Marcelo Melo, headed down to the side of the court to hand him a drink.
On commentary, Jim Courier described Melo’s actions as ‘unprecedented’, and now his fellow American, Andy Roddick, has shared his thoughts.
Andy Roddick claims the umpire made ‘absurd’ decision after Alexander Zverev received drink during final
During the latest episode of ‘Served with Andy Roddick‘, Jon Wertheim commented on the incident.
“I was watching with Petko; we were like, ‘You can’t do that!'” he said.
“When Marcelo Melo came to the side of the court and gave him tablets and a drink and some advice. We were like, I didn’t know that was in the rules!’”
Roddick then delivered his verdict.
“Does it change when [Marcelo] Melo gives you something that you’re missing? Does the umpire take into consideration that Zverev is a type-one diabetic?” he said.
“My favourite part, yes, to everything you just said, was completely gratuitous with the shot clock. Zverev, at that point, was probably willing to take the time violation, which is his prerogative.
“But in true-this tournament form, where we are not using electronic line calling and it completely f— Casper Ruud in the second set of a match, where we are not moving f— lines person things that sit in front of them and players are getting injured tripping over them.
“I like how you let the clock go to 45 seconds. In that scenario, you let Zverev get away with it for 20 seconds more than the clock, and then right as he is about to serve, you call a time violation, which causes us to lose another 20 seconds.
“Like what the f— are we doing? Either do it or don’t do it.
“What are we doing? It was absurd! It was wacky all around.”
Roddick wasn’t happy with several incidents that occurred during the French Open.
He first mentioned the lack of electronic line calling, which arguably cost Casper Ruud the second set during his fourth-round defeat to Joao Fonseca.
It’s impossible to know if Ruud would have secured the win if he had won that set, but it certainly would have boosted his chances.
Roddick also noted the placement of advertisement boards at the back of the court.
During the first week, Katie Boulter tripped over the board, before Zeynep Sonmez was forced to retire from her doubles match due to an injury caused by a fall.
This year’s Roland Garros was far from perfect, and it’s now time to see if the powers that be make the necessary changes ahead of the 2027 tournament.
Should Alexander Zverev have been allowed to receive help from Marcelo Melo during the French Open final?
The short answer is no.
As Courier rightly pointed out on commentary, the incident was truly unprecedented.
“This is unprecedented to me,” he said.
“I have never seen a player be allowed to even engage with another player. Marcelo Melo is not part of the medical staff.
“What are they doing?”
It’s moments like this that blur the lines between what is and isn’t allowed in tennis.
We’ve seen coaches give drinks to their players before, but not directly.
The usual protocol is for one of the ball kids to hand them anything they need.
Those in charge allowed those lines to be blurred on Sunday afternoon, and that shouldn’t be overlooked.
