Zverev caught cheating? Don't jump to conclusions.

One scene is currently making the rounds: the pre-match toss of the French Open quarter-final between Alexander Zverev and Alex De Minaur (see video below). It shows the chair umpire, Frenchman Damien Dumusois, asking the German to choose one side of the coin that is about to be tossed to determine which of the two opponents has priority in choosing which side of the court to start on, or whether to start the match on serve or not.

Zverev states his choice very clearly "Ball" (the side with the drawing of a ball). But when the chair umpire retrieves the coin and announces that it's the "racket" side that has fallen in the right direction, the world no. 4 replies "I said racket". He thus wins the toss and chooses to let De Minaur serve.

Naturally, the first reaction to the scene is outrage that Zverev could cheat so blatantly and so casually. However, it's important not to jump to hasty conclusions about the German's supposed intentions.

To take a step back, we'd simply point out that the pressure and stress are at their highest before a match like this, and it's not a good time to be thinking clearly. You only need to have experienced the kind of stressful situations that can come close to this to be convinced. So it's also possible that Zverev didn't intend to cheat at all, and simply got confused by the high level of stress. And this is just one hypothesis among probably many others.

All the more so as it would have been particularly foolish of him to attempt this under the circumstances. Firstly, because the stakes of the toss were low, especially in a best-of-5-set match. And secondly, because he knew full well that Damien Dumusois was equipped with a switched-on microphone and that cameras broadcasting their images around the world were trained on him.

Everyone can make up their own mind, but it's a question of measuring up. Zverev is probably the only one who knows the truth.