Gutsy Juan Martin del Potro recovers from a set down to win against rising star Zverev
Thursday 12 October 2017 19:39, UK
"There are racket smashes, and then there are racket smashes" - Sky Sports commentator Barry Millns summed up Alexander Zverev's rage after losing control during his Shanghai Masters defeat.
The talented 20-year-old Zverev was going after his sixth title of a breakthrough season and looked comfortable in the first set against Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
The German prodigy and the 29-year-old, whose career has been beset by injury, went toe to toe in the second set and the tiebreak was just as tight until Del Potro grabbed the crucial mini-break.
And then came the turning point as he yielded the crucial service break to go 3-2 down in the third set.
Cue the flash of anger from third seed Zverev - smashing his racket on court, then stamping on it, before smashing it further as he stomped back to his chair.
A fan at least came away with a demolished piece of memorabilia after the young German handed it to a spectator while Del Potro ran away with the match to complete a 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory.
Del Potro, pushed to the brink of retirement by four wrist surgeries that saw his ranking slip as low as 1,045 at one point in his career, said Zverev would learn.
"I saw his frustration, for sure... But I think he's still very young and he needs to keep learning, as he's doing now," said the Argentine. "He has everything to be in the top positions in the future, but these things happen. Remember when Roger [Federer] was young? He broke rackets too."
Click on the video above to see Zverev lose control and destroy his racket. It was almost a replica of his rage showed during his defeat to Nick Kyrgios in Beijing last week...
Sky Sports Tennis will have all the action from the Shanghai Masters before we head to the Erste Bank Open and Swiss Indoors Basel and then the Paris Masters.
The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan and season-ending extravaganza World Tour Finals at London's O2 in November end another memorable year which will be covered via our website www.skysports.com/tennis with live blogs and updates as the season reaches its climax.
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