Now a feather has caused an outburst on centre court.
Alexander Zverev first copped a warning for an audible obscenity because he was annoyed with crowd interference, and then had a heated discussion with the central umpire, who ordered a point be replayed because he saw a feather drifting across the court during play.
Alexander Zverev shows a feather to the central umpire.Credit: Getty Images
The umpire felt that a Zverev backhand flew close to the feather and would have been distracting for opponent Tommy Paul as the American hit a forehand wide.
His call to replay the point drew boos from the crowd.
“It’s a feather,” Zverev complained. “There’s millions of them on the court. There’s one there, there’s one there, there’s one there.”
At that stage of the second set, Paul was 4-2 ahead and serving at 40-40 when the point had to be replayed.
-“There are feathers flying all over the place from the birds in the rafters,” Nine commentator Jim Courier said. “That means Tommy Paul gets another first serve.”
Fellow commentator John Millman said he sided with Zverev.
“I think given the circumstance, second serve, he’s in the rally, I can see why he is frustrated,” Millman said.
Courier revealed that Paul apologised to the German.
“I can understand the feeling that there was a hindrance there, but it’s bad for Zverev to have to see another first serve,” Courier said.
