A fan was ejected from a U.S. Open tennis match early Tuesday morning after German player Alexander Zverev complained the man used language from Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime.

Zverev, the No. 12 seed, was serving at 2-2 in the fourth set of his match against No. 6 Jannik Sinner when he suddenly went to chair umpire James Keothavong and pointed toward the fan, who was sitting in a section behind the umpire.

“He just said the most famous Hitler phrase there is in this world,” Zverev told Keothavong. “It’s not acceptable.”

“He started singing the anthem of Hitler that was back in the day. It was ‘Deutschland über alles’ and it was a bit too much,” Zverev said.

  • SpicaNucifera
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    1 year ago

    Shoutout to Germans and their zero tolerance policy and these sorts of shenanigans.

      • setVeryLoud(true);@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        That’s a pretty xenophobic comment right there.

        People of different family lineages can be German citizens and culturally German. Imagine if we went “Yeah, Americans” at every Gonzalez in the United States.

        • uis@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That’s a pretty xenophobic comment right there.

          I’m not a German too, FYI.

          People of different family lineages can be German citizens and culturally German. Imagine if we went “Yeah, Americans” at every Gonzalez in the United States.

          You are missing the point. This sounds like “Yandex is company in Netherlands”.

      • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        At least all over social media. Let his bosses and customers learn about it and ruin his life.

            • BilboBargains@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              I don’t know any of these people but I do remember being a kid and shouting stupid things from a crowd. People be spraining their ankles leaping to conclusions here.

              • Ejh3k@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                As an edgelord child, I get it. But doing it, being reprimanded about it, and doing it again, ain’t no jumping to conclusions on this one. He was doing it on purpose.

    • lud
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      1 year ago

      He was born in Germany and is a German citizen, so yes.

      His parents are of Russian origin though and probably German citizens by now.

  • theodewere@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    “I think he was getting involved in the match for a long time, though. I don’t mind it, I love when fans are loud, I love when fans are emotional”

    sounds like the guy had been cheering loudly in support of Zverev the whole match, and this was after a couple of hours and the guy legitimately just got really carried away shouting some stupid shit… doesn’t sound like the fan was seriously supporting Hitler or anything… apparently just a loud moron who needed some attention…

      • theodewere@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        in context though? the context that i went to great lengths to provide? you’re just ignoring that to try to make an argumentative point…

        • MagicShel@programming.dev
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          1 year ago

          I don’t think that context excuses nearly as much as you think. At no point in my life have I been drunk or giddy enough to shout God Save the Queen or recite some confederate anthem. And I’ve been damn drunk before.

          • yacht_boy@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Sounds like a challenge. I’ll bring the Cuervo, you bring the Beam, let’s get drunk and sing God Save the Queen!

          • theodewere@kbin.social
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            1 year ago

            alright, if that sounded like an excuse to you this morning, i apologize alright… i was not excusing this moron…

            reactionary fuckwits gauging the harshness of language

        • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yes, in any context, and the more context you provide to justify Nazi chants, the less convincing any argument you make will be.

            • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              the guy legitimately just got really carried away shouting some stupid shit… doesn’t sound like the fan was seriously supporting Hitler or anything… apparently just a loud moron who needed some attention…

              I might be a reactionary moron, but at least I’ve never had to explain the nuance between excusing a nazi and merely attempting to explain why being a nazi isn’t so bad. Do go on, though, because it’s still not clear how you weren’t excusing the nazi chants.

              • theodewere@kbin.social
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                1 year ago

                i’m saying quite explicitly that i don’t think he’s a Nazi, based on the evidence… so i’m not defending Nazis… this is how you’re demonstrating your reactionism… you assume he’s a Nazi, and therefore my language is not harsh enough for you… it’s a pain in the ass trying to explain this to you through your reactionary tendency… perhaps you’re unable to see things rationally for some reason…

                • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Based on the evidence that he shouted Nazi slogans, and he was drunk, you’re saying you don’t think it’s fair to say he was drunk and shouting Nazi slogans, but you’re not defending the drunk guy shouting of Nazi slogans? And your defense is that I’m overreacting to the Nazi slogans because I said it’s not OK to shout Nazi slogans? So I’m the irrational one in this conversation?

                  Were you perchance bitten by a radioactive projector?

            • tomi000@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              No offense but that is literally what you were doing. Maybe reread your comment.

    • kraftpudding@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Idk. I don’t think this particular phrase would even enter my mind as something to chant, and I am German. That’s not the first time he chanted that, I’m sure. It is taboo for sure, but it’s not in the cultural consciousness a lot, there’s more “popular” nazi slogans. You’d either have to search your brain for something specifically Hitler related or be very familiar with the old anthem (aka singing it a lot aka being a neonazi).

      I do not agree that this is the “most” Hitler thing though. There are so much more famous things, hut they wouldn’t fit the situation though.

      • theodewere@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        i think you like to pat yourself on the back, and moreover you like to use things like this as a self back patter

      • MartinXYZ@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        It was probably an American fan(it is the US Open) who thinks that’s still the German national anthem… Still good on the player for shutting that shit down, it’s a misunderstanding that doesn’t need to be repeated.

        • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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          1 year ago

          My thought is that it was an American neo-nazi (it is the US Open) who thought it was acceptable to repeat something he shouldn’t have.

        • kraftpudding@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Idk, maybe. I listened to the audio, and to me, it did sound like someone who speaks German well. The pronounciations and emphasis sounded very natural. And fans do travel for events like these. Of course it could be an American, but somehow I still doubt it. Is this phrase known in the US?

          • PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            I’ve heard it before. I’m not sure I’d know which was the current anthem if you played the nazi one and the current one before today, though.

            • kraftpudding@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Yeah, but would you (I assume american) even know enough words to so clearly repeat the opening words? Idk. It’s just not something you’d come across often even in Germany outside of history class, german class, or neonazi circles. I assume even less so for non Germany. So that this would be so top of mind for someone to just slip out is just such a strange and unlikely thought to me.

              Idk. The phrase is bad, but it wouldn’t come up in my top 10 of nazi phrases, so for it to just slip out, I have to to assume that person frequently uses nazi phrases.

              Likely we’ll never know