{"id":88239,"date":"2025-08-16T22:55:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/88239\/"},"modified":"2025-08-16T22:55:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T22:55:08","slug":"why-alexander-zverev-apologised-at-the-net-to-ben-shelton-after-beating-him-in-the-cincinnati-open-quarter-finals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/88239\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Alexander Zverev apologised at the net to Ben Shelton after beating him in the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alexander Zverev is into the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, having beaten Ben Shelton most recently to reach that stage.<\/p>\n

It marked a comprehensive win for the world number three, but an expected one given how much tennis the young American has played in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Winning the Masters 1000 event in Toronto marked an outstanding feat for him, as the biggest title of his career to date.<\/p>\n

However, his decision to then fly straight to Cincinnati shocked many, especially considering both finalists from the women\u2019s side withdrew before the tournament even began.<\/p>\n

Shelton\u2019s fatigue was evident throughout his loss to Zverev, and he admitted as much when the two met at the net immediately afterwards.<\/p>\n

What Alexander Zverev said to Ben Shelton at the net after beating him<\/p>\n

A 6-2, 6-2 win, without being broken once, should have left Zverev delighted with his performance.<\/p>\n

However, a gracious winner as always, he actually ended up apologising to Shelton upon completion of the match.<\/p>\n

After all, he recognised that his opponent was not at 100%, and as such said at the net: \u201cI\u2019m really sorry about that, I know you didn\u2019t play your best. I hope you feel good at the US Open.\u201d<\/p>\n

The expectation is that Shelton will be fit and firing at the US Open later this month, having enjoyed a remarkable past few months on the North American hard courts.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s telling that Karen Khachanov retired injured from his Cincinnati Open match<\/a> earlier in the week, also suffering from fatigue.<\/p>\n

Could Alexander Zverev win the 2025 US Open?<\/p>\n

Whilst Shelton has impressed, Zverev has also rather quietly snuck into yet another Masters 1000 semi-final.<\/p>\n

Now set to face Carlos Alcaraz, this will mark the perfect opportunity for the 27-year-old to prove that he is ready to take that huge next step and truly challenge for a Grand Slam title.<\/p>\n

\"AlexanderPhoto by Frey\/TPN\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A three-time major finalist, Zverev is widely regarded as the best player never to have won the most prestigious honour in tennis.<\/p>\n

And, he\u2019s been vocal about his burning desire to right that wrong.<\/p>\n

The 2025 US Open marks a huge chance for him to once again go deep at a tournament that he has already come so close to winning, and a victory over the world number two, and then potentially Jannik Sinner in the final, would certainly boost not only his confidence, but also the world\u2019s perception of his chances.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alexander Zverev is into the Cincinnati Open semi-finals, having beaten Ben Shelton most recently to reach that stage.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[12082,431,37370,99,428],"class_list":["post-88239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-alexander-zverev","tag-ben-shelton","tag-cincinnati-open","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}