Alexander Zverev mounted a big comeback to beat Alexei Popyrin 6-7 (8) 6-4 6-3 in the Toronto Masters quarterfinal and then waved goodbye to a heckler who tried to provoke him.
Zverev, who is the top seed at the Canadian Masters in the absence of Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz, lost a tight opening set to defending champion Popyrin in a heartbreaking way after missing out on two set points. However, the German tennis star managed to respond as he took the second set by claiming a key break in the 10th game - when the Australian was serving to stay in the set.
As Zverev was bidding to complete his comeback, one spectator tried to provoke him. However, the three-time Grand Slam finalist remained unfazed as he won the opening three games of the third set before completing his comeback win in just less than three hours of play.
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Moments after sealing his win, the 28-year-old waved at the heckler in question and also appeared to tell them, "bye, bye."
Zverev then issued a big statement in his presser
After creating a big comeback but also not allowing a heckler to get under his skin, Zverev claimed that he was working on such stuff because he wanted to be remember for his tennis qualities and not outbursts.
"I want to be remembered for my tennis. I want to be remembered for what I've achieved on the court, for what I've done on the tennis court Also for the good things I do outside the tennis court as well," the 28-year-old said after the match.
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"There's quite a lot of work that I do with my foundation, and with my family as well, which can be beneficial and helps people around the world. So I would much rather be known and remembered for that than the outbursts that I used to have, right? That's just something that at some point it just comes."
Zverev plays Karen Khachanov in the Toronto semifinal.
