Domestic violence charges must be dealt with same as doping
If he goes on to win the title, his off-court situation will escalate into a PR disaster for the ATP and Tennis Australia. Regardless, his run in Melbourne has brought tennis’s lack of a domesticviolence policy into sharp focus.
Dokic’s decision to knuckle down on the issue served as a message to the powers-that-be that the sport has dragged its feet, instead of finalising a code that would deal with the Zverev situation.
Allegations of domestic abuse have followed him for nearly four years. First Olya Sharypova, a former Russian player and girlfriend of his, alleged that Zverev physically and emotionally abused her, including claims he punched her in the face at the 2019 ATP Masters in Shanghai. Her allegations were published by Russian media in 2020 and later by Slate magazine. She did not pursue legal action against Zverev, who called her allegations “untrue” in a statement.
At the time Andy Murray, among others, called on the ATP to implement a domestic abuse policy. The ATP has repeatedly said it is in the process of delivering one but, more than three years on, that is yet to materialise.
The ATP needs not look too far to find domestic violence policies in other sports. The NFL’S is the most high profile. It allows for the league to put players on paid leave if formally charged with a felony or crime of violence. Players can also be disciplined even if they are not legally convicted. The men’s tennis tour still has no such rules. It took nearly a year after Sharypova made her allegations public for the ATP to commission an investigation in late 2021. That took 15 months and, in January 2023, it found “insufficient evidence to substantiate published allegations of abuse”. Zverev co-operated fully with the investigation – even handing over phone records – but, crucially, was free to play throughout.
During that time he played in the semifinals of four majors.