During an intense tennis match at the U.S. Open in New York City, a spectator was removed from Arthur Ashe Stadium after being accused of quoting a phrase from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.
The incident occurred just before 12:15 a.m. ET, as German player Alexander Zverev was serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his match against Italian player Jannik Sinner.
Zverev suddenly approached the chair umpire, James Keothavong, and pointed towards a fan who was seated court-side.
He accused the fan of using the most famous Hitler phrase in the world, which was unacceptable and unbelievable.
The umpire immediately asked the crowd to identify the fan, who was soon removed from the arena by security officials.
After the match, Zverev revealed that he had experienced derogatory remarks from fans before, but never about Hitler.
The fan had reportedly been singing the anthem of Hitler, which was “Deutschland Uber Alles,” and had been disruptive for a long time.
Although Zverev enjoys it when fans are loud and emotional, he does not appreciate the fan’s remarks.
Being German, he was not proud of that history and found it inappropriate.
Zverev lost that set due to the humid conditions, but he eventually recovered to win the fifth set. The match lasted for 4 hours and 41 minutes, ending at about 1:40 a.m.
Zverev will now face defending U.S. Open champion Carlos Alcaraz in the quarterfinals.
Zverev did not let the fan’s remark affect him and considered it the fan’s loss for not witnessing the final two sets of the match.
