Acapulco Earthquake Can't Shake Zverev

  • Posted: Mar 20, 2021

Not even an earthquake was able to stop Alexander Zverev in his semi-final on Friday evening at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

With Dominik Koepfer serving at 40/15 in the first game of the second set, there were tremors that shook the stadium. It turned out to be a 5.7 magnitude earthquake in the state of Guerrero, according to the United States Geological Survey.

“I didn’t know what happened. Neither did Dominik. We just heard the crowd. I guess the lights started shaking and the crowd felt it more than we did. We were running around the court, so we had to play a point during the earthquake,” Zverev said. “We didn’t feel much, but still obviously I know it happens here in Acapulco. I’ve witnessed it here before, so I guess it’s normal for Acapulco.

“Last year we had a similar thing during my match or during my practice. I don’t remember. It was bigger though, because I saw the lights shaking. I didn’t see anything today. But I guess it happens in this area. Everything is proved to be stable… I hope everyone is fine at the area that is closest to the earthquake.”

Zverev fell behind by a break in the second set, but he wasn’t ultimately rattled by the earthquake. The World No. 7 defeated his countryman 6-4, 7-6(5).

Players who were off court felt the earthquake to a greater extent. Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski had recently won their doubles semi-final against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury. Neal had just laid down on the massage table when the quake hit.

“It was really strange, that,” Neal said. “I actually thought it was some massage technique that he was doing, because the bed was shaking. I just thought it was normal. Then an alarm went off on his phone and that’s when I thought, ‘This is a bit strange.’ Then he said, ‘We’re going to go outside because of an earthquake.’ I couldn’t put my clothes on quick enough to get out of the building.

“I [experienced] one before many years ago in Italy throughout the night, but not as big as that one. Really weird and I don’t want to be in one of them again.”

Ken was waiting to get a massage himself, sitting nearby one of his opponent’s in Saturday’s final, Horacio Zeballos.

“It didn’t last necessarily that long, but it was long enough to look at each other and realise that it didn’t seem right. There are a couple people working here who also said, ‘That’s an earthquake,’” Ken said. “It got bigger and bigger. It only lasted maybe five seconds, but it was enough to feel like the whole building was shaking… It was enough to freak you out, because I’ve never experienced one. I’m hoping that this is the only one that they’re going to have here because obviously there’s a fear of bigger and stronger ones in the coming hours or days.”

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