Fans Accuse Zverev of Taking Shelton and Hewitt's Practice Court in Shanghai

Spectators in Shanghai say the top seed kept a practice court that was no longer his, and sent two other players to a court nobody could watch properly. The accounts, posted by attendees at the Qizhong arena and reported by Sportskeeda and TennisUpToDate, accuse Alexander Zverev of arriving late to his own booking and running into Ben Shelton and Cruz Hewitt’s slot. Zverev has not responded, and the tournament has not confirmed the account.

What do the spectator accounts actually say?

That a booking ran close to an hour late and the delay landed on the next pair. One attendee posting on RedNote said Zverev had Court 5 from 10:30, that his hitting partner waited on court, and that he arrived at about 11:50, TennisUpToDate reports. Shelton and Hewitt were due at 12:00 and arrived on time, the account says, but were moved to Court 10 so Zverev could finish. A second attendee, posting on X, said they had sat in the front row for over an hour waiting for that session and backed the account. Those are spectator claims, reported as such, in the same way Wu Yibing’s criticism of Zverev’s match behaviour was reported from his own press conference.

Why does a practice court matter enough to argue about?

Because practice access is part of the product at a Masters event. Fans cannot get close to a show court during a match, but they can stand metres from a practice session, and tournaments publish the practice schedule so supporters can plan a day around a favourite player. An attendee who queued for Shelton, the American No. 1 seed in his section of the draw and a player this desk wrote about on his birthday in Shanghai last week, and who ends up watching through a fence on a far court, has lost the thing they came for.

Has anyone official confirmed or denied the claims?

No, and that gap is part of the story. TennisUpToDate reports Zverev is yet to give his side and no explanation for the switch has been released. TennisTemple, reporting the same accounts, notes the version of events rests on spectator testimony and has not been publicly confirmed by any of the three players or the organisers. There are ordinary explanations a tournament could offer, from a rescheduled slot to a court change made by officials rather than by a player, and none has been offered yet.

Why has a scheduling row travelled this far?

Because it is the second Zverev flashpoint of his own tournament. Wu’s criticism after their second-round match was about gamesmanship during play. This one is about consideration off it, and the two together have fed a single debate about how the top seed carries himself in Shanghai. The crowd reaction has been blunt, Sportskeeda reports, with fans calling the alleged conduct disrespectful to other players’ time. Conduct rows have driven this tournament’s coverage all week, from Atmane’s racket throw in qualifying to the fallout from Hurkacz beating Djokovic for the first time in nine meetings, where the result was only half the story.

What would settle the question?

A word from any of the four parties involved. The tournament controls the practice schedule and can say whether the slots were moved by officials. Shelton and Hewitt can say whether they were asked to move or chose to. Zverev can say when he arrived and why. Until one of them speaks, the verified facts are narrow: two attendees gave matching accounts, three outlets reported them with the same caution, and Alcaraz’s tournament, by contrast, has been running on a team moustache pact rather than a dispute.

What happens next for Zverev in Shanghai?

A third-round match against Quentin Halys, whom he has beaten in all three of their meetings this year, TennisUpToDate reports. A win moves him toward a last-16 meeting with Alexander Bublik or Brandon Nakashima. The tennis is the straightforward part of his week. Whether the practice-court claims get an answer before the tournament ends is the part still open.