Marion Bartoli has called it ‘scandalous’ the lack of sanction imposed on Alexander Zverev after his shocking attack on a referee’s chair.

“For me it deserved at least a three tournament suspension, not playing Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo, it deserved at least that, otherwise where do you draw the line?

“The fine was a big amount for normal people, but for tennis players like Alexander Zverev who earns so much on and off the court, it wasn’t that much – I don’t think he will pull the punches. lessons he should have learned.”

“If a player breaks his racket on the umpire’s chair and is literally inches away from hitting the umpire’s leg, he shouldn’t be allowed onto a tennis court until he’s suffered a kind of rehabilitation, a kind of time,” Wilander told Eurosport.

“We have to punish him accordingly, and allow him to go out and play professional tennis after a week or two, it’s too soon.

“For me, money doesn’t do it, and I think you give someone with that behavior a three-month ban or a six-month ban. You’re not allowing them to play the most important tournaments in its schedule. Now the most important tournaments are most likely the Grand Slams, the ATP 1000, the Davis Cup.

“I mean, I don’t know where you draw the line, but definitely to come out and compete in any form right away, that doesn’t seem very fair to other players.

“Maybe it’s time to have some kind of professional tennis body that makes all these decisions, and that’s the combination of the ATP, the ITF, the WTA, the Olympic committee. We get together, and those kinds of behaviors, no, you’re not allowed to play on any circuit until you’ve gone through some sort of rehabilitation process.

“So no, it’s not great for tennis. For him personally, it’s probably a good thing that he can suddenly start playing, not just for himself, but to play for his country and his teammates. But no, I think it’s…it doesn’t send a big message for professional tennis.

“I applaud him for being an emotional wreck at the end of the loss in a doubles match – it just shows he cares, but you have to show you care in different ways.

“I think I go back to what happened against Denis Shapovalov at the Australian Open. After 45 minutes he was destroying a tennis racket on the court.

“I don’t like destroying tennis racquets, even though it has become more and more acceptable in the professional tennis world.

“I absolutely hate this behavior because there are more tennis players in the world who can’t afford a second racquet. So don’t show the kids that this is how we treat the equipment we use.”

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