Only ten minutes remained on the clock when Alexander Zverev arrived on Court 5 for his practice session. The German apparently showed no urgency as he prepared for his full practice session. His late arrival, though, had consequences for the pair of Ben Shelton and Cruz Hewitt, who were supposed to train later. This incident caused a bit of a stir among the fans. Now, Zverev has finally weighed in with his blunt take.

“How do you even make this stuff up,” said Zverev in one of his Instagram comments after the incident had gone viral.

The incident was reported by a fan on the Chinese social media app Rednote, who stated that Zverev had booked Court 5 for a practice session from 10:30 to 12:00 on Saturday. The German had his third-round match against Quentin Halys the next day, and understandably wanted to sharpen his edges.

However, as the Rednote user stated, by the time Zverev arrived, only 10 minutes remained on the clock of his allotted 90 minutes. It was already time for Ben Shelton and Cruz Hewitt to start their session, but in the clip that has since circulated on social media, Hewitt can be seen talking to the German, after which he and Shelton were reportedly moved to Court 10, which is an outer court.

The wish to stay on the court can be traced back to a younger Zverev. His father and also his coach, Alexander Zverev Sr., was part of an ATP Coach Spotlight feature last year. While talking about his approach to coaching his sons, he revealed how stubborn Zverev can be when it comes to training.

“Sascha’s relationship with training, from a very young age, made him not want to leave the court. He would start crying because he wanted to keep playing. ‘I still want to train.’ Even now, being one of the top players in the world, he sometimes finishes a late-night training session around 11:00 p.m. or midnight. And he asks tournament organizers to let him hit balls after matches for 30 or 40 minutes,” he said.

However, in professional tennis, where the question of hierarchy has always been part of conversations, “do not hog the court” becomes an unwritten rule.

Last year, before the US Open, Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev were deep into practice at Louis Armstrong Stadium, with Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison scheduled to take their place when the hour was up. The latter duo arrived in time, but per The Guardian, Zverev and Medvedev kept deliberating another game and even lined up on the baseline again. Just like that, they ended up staying past their hour, with Collins and Harrison waiting on the sidelines to begin.

During the same tournament, Cameron Norrie, too, had to wait for Novak Djokovic and Zverev to finish their practice session. As the hour came to an end, Norrie turned to his fitness trainer, hoping he would put some pressure on the pair to leave. “It was like 59 [minutes past]. I was trying to push my fitness trainer on to put a bit of pressure [on them]. He was like: ‘No, I don’t want to go!’” Norrie recalled.

Several other players have weighed in on the issue, with Coco Gauff among those stressing the importance of respecting allotted practice time.

“You definitely get some people that you know will push their time two, three, four minutes past. I’m not on the bar with that. If I’m on the court, I’ll ask my coach the time. I don’t like to be that player that goes over their time. I’m going to stop literally maybe even a minute before, especially if they have to clean the court [on clay],” she said, per The Guardian.

Jessica Pegula has also reflected on how her access to practice courts changed as she climbed the rankings, recalling the less favourable facilities she had to use earlier in her career.

“I was back in the park smelling all the weed and all the smells New York City has to offer,” she said. “They were completely different courts too. They were so fast, and they were nothing like the match courts. I’ve definitely seen a shift in my practice courts and my times and what courts I can get now that I’m a top player. I guess you could say it’s unfair a little bit, but I also think sometimes you’ve earned that right.”

That said, the practice-court allegations also came days after Zverev faced criticism over his on-court conduct during his Shanghai match against Wu Yibing.

Yibing claimed that he preferred playing against Carlos Alcaraz, frustrated by “little incidents” from Zverev’s end during the match, like “falling down, complaining about the lights, messing with the net tape.” He added that Zverev resorted to that behaviour to purposefully throw Yibing off when the pressure was building.

That said, having beaten the likes of Wu Yibing and Quentin Halys, Zverev will now have to face Alexander Bublik in the fourth round at the Shanghai Masters. The match could be tricky for the top seed, as the Kazakh holds a 3-1 head-to-head lead. Moreover, given the temper Bublik showed in his previous match against Brandon Nakashima, his match against Zverev could potentially have fireworks both off and on the court.

As for Zverev, his season has been defined by his ability to snake through difficult stretches and find a way to win. Both his French Open and US Open campaigns had testing moments, but the German recovered to lift the trophies. Even against Halys in Shanghai, the two-time Grand Slam champion struggled to close out the match, letting two match points slip in the second-set tiebreak. However, as he has done many times this year, Zverev was able to collect himself and win 6–4, 6–7(8), 6–3.

He has also faced concerns over his left ankle during the Shanghai Masters, which he appeared to hurt after slipping while chasing a shot against Wu Yibing. Two days later, he again appeared to experience discomfort in his other ankle against Quentin Halys, and moved awkwardly late in the match.