In the middle of the Roland-Garros tournament, the German Alexander Zverev tried for domestic violence

The German player is accused of having assaulted his former partner. MAXPPP – Matthieu Mirville

The fourth player in the world Alexander Zverev, who brought down the icon Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros, will be judged this Friday, May 31 in Germany on appeal for domestic violence, in the middle of the tournament of the Grand Slam of which he is one of the favorites.

The 27-year-old German star is contesting before a Berlin court a first instance judgment which imposed on him in October 2023 a fine of 450,000 euros for "beatings and injuries" against a former partner. The player is accused of having, in May 2020 in Berlin, " physically abused a woman during an argument and damaged her health, according to the court.

Alexander Zverev is accused of having "choked his partner at the time with both hands in the stairwell of a Berlin building". The legal proceedings do not cite the name of the complainant. But the player's lawyers indicated in October that it was his former partner Brenda Patea, who was invited by the court to testify on the first day of the appeal trial.

Zverev denies accusations

Eight court dates are scheduled between now and July. No personal appearance has been ordered for Zverev. The world No.4 said at the end of last week that he wanted to concentrate on Roland-Garros, where he eliminated the world's No. 4 in the first round. former Spanish world number one Rafael Nadal, winner of the tournament 14 times during his career. Thursday, in the 2nd round, he beat Belgian David Goffin 7-6 (7/4), 6-2, 6-2.

"I have confidence in the German justice system. I believe in the truth. I know what I did and what I didn't do. There is absolutely no chance that I will lose" the trial, added the German player. In January 2023, due to insufficient evidence, the&# 39;ATP – which manages the men's professional tennis circuit – had closed a separate investigation targeting him into allegations of domestic violence emanating from another ex-partner, Olga Sharypova.

"A lot" situations of this type

The ATP, which originally opened this investigation in 2021, had considered that the charges were insufficient to go further. This Russian player had claimed on social networks that the world tennis star had "tried to strangle him with a pillow, bang his head against the wall and twist his arms&quot ;. In a long interview given to the Russian site Championship, the young woman added that there had been "a lot& ;quot; situations of this type. She had not taken legal action.

Alexander Zverev, renowned for the power of his serve and baseline game, has 22 titles on the professional circuit, including a gold medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Masters twice (2018, 2021) as well as the Masters 1000 in Rome (2017 and 2024), Montreal (2017), Madrid (2018 and 2021) and Cincinnati (2021).