How Alexander Zverev's domestic abuse criminal trial has taken over the Australian Open ft. Coy players, angry fans, unrelenting press questions

The news of Alexander Zverev's upcoming criminal trial for the alleged domestic abuse charges against him has taken center stage at the ongoing Australian Open. The accusations were leveled against him by Brenda Patea, the mother of his child and ex-girlfriend, last year.

Now, the matter is set to be adjudicated in a Berlin court in May this year. Zverev has proclaimed his innocence in all of this since the beginning. With the news coming out just this week, other players have also been asked to give their two cents on the subject.

However, most of them have declined to directly comment on the matter when quizzed on it. When players like Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud were asked about the matter during their post-match conferences, they opted not to opine on it, citing a lack of adequate knowledge.

"I will not say on that. I don't know the situation. I'm completely unfamiliar with it. I have nothing to comment on it," - Tsitsipas in his post-match conference.

"I haven't had too much time to think about it, and don't really have an opinion right now. But yeah, I'm not exactly sure how to react to it, so won't give you a good answer. Sorry," - Ruud's thoughts on the matter.

Following Iga Swiatek's first-round win over Sofia Kenin, she was questioned about the current happenings as well. While she was a bit more forthcoming, she felt that this was something that the ATP should handle.

"Well, any answer that I give, I mean, there's no good answer to that. I think it's up to ATP what they decide. For sure it's not good when a player who's facing charges like that is kind of being promoted," - Swiatek said.

Zverev was also elected to the players' council earlier this month. The decision was deemed questionable given the allegations surrounding him. Patea wasn't the only woman to have come forward after all.

Another ex-girlfriend of Zverev, Olga Sharypova, had accused him of domestic violence in 2021. The ATP had conducted its investigation into the earlier accusation but gave him a clean chit in the end.

Following his opening round victory in Melbourne, Grigor Dimitrov was asked about Zverev serving on the council in light of recent events. The Bulgarian was rather evasive with his responses and didn't address the matter head-on.

"First I hear this. I definitely won't comment more on that, because I don't know what the situation it. I think, in general, I always stay away from press in general. I really don't read much," - Dimitrov said.

"Of course there are things swirling around, of course I understand that part. On the other side, on the council, I think I didn't -- I mean, honestly, I don't know what to say. It's not only up to me who is in there, right? I mean..." he added.

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Fans have been quite vocal in their criticism of Alexander Zverev and his allegations

Alexander Zverev is no stranger to courting controversy.

Fans, on the other hand, haven't been shy about venting their frustration regarding Alexander Zverev's allegations. The German was heavily featured in the second season of the Netflix series "Break Point", which was recently released.

The German was given a considerable amount of screen time, but there was no mention of the accusations against him. That felt like a glaring omission to fans, who felt that Zverev being promoted like this maligned the image of the ATP Tour.

Given Zverev's position at the top of the men's game, the ATP Tour has promoted him a lot. However, they have been under fire for backing the German time after time given the circumstances.

Neither Netflix nor the ATP have commented since the news of Zverev's upcoming trial broke. As for the 26-year-old, he's yet to make his thoughts public on the matter. With his first-round contest at the Australian Open concluding on Tuesday, there's a good chance that he'll break his silence on the matter after that.