After World No. 4, a tennis writer resorts to crowdsourcing to cover legal expenses. Alexander Zverev brings legal action

Ben Rothenberg, a tennis writer, raises $22,000 on a crowdsourcing website after writing about Alexander Zverev’s alleged abuse of his girlfriend.

The writer who covered Olga Sharypova’s tale four years after she came up with allegations of domestic abuse at the hands of World No. 4 tennis player Alexander Zverev had to crowdfund the costs of legal defense to stave off a lawsuit from the German.

Renowned tennis writer Ben Rothenberg provided information about the expense of legal proceedings with Zverev’s legal team in German courts, and then published a link to a crowdfunding website called “GoFundMe” in a post on X. The next day, Rothenberg disclosed that the $22,000 funding target had been reached in 22 hours. He also said that he would donate all of the funds he gets—100% of which will not be used for legal fees—to the Washington domestic abuse shelter House of Ruth.

It’s been depressing, according to Rothenberg. According to Rothenberg, “I don’t regret anything, but it hasn’t made life any easier,” The Washington Post said.
Following Sharypova’s social media abuse allegations against Zverev in 2020, prominent tennis journalist Rothenberg—who had been hired by the New York Times to cover Grand Slam events from 2011 to 2022—interviewed Sharypova to hear her side of the story. The result was a two-part series that appeared in Racquet magazine and Slate, an online publication.

Zverev, who has adamantly refuted every accusation, was then involved in a defamation lawsuit.
Sharypova published vivid accounts of emotional and physical abuse in Rothenberg’s first piece for Racquet in November 2020. She said the German had beaten her, struck her head against a wall, and tried to suffocate her with a pillow. Rothenberg also spoke with a few chosen friends and relatives.

Early on, there was indignation and demands for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour to look into some claims of occurrences that occurred at tournament hotels. They passed away swiftly while Zverev played on in 2021, going on to win the gold medal in the Olympics in Tokyo.
When Rothenberg’s second story appeared in August 2021 in Slate, it created much more of a stir. Images and conversation screenshots were released, along with more in-depth
information about the alleged mistreatment that occurred at the Laver Cup in Geneva and ATP competitions. Sharypova went on to say that she tried to end her own life by giving herself an insulin injection following Zverev’s attack on her in a hotel room during the 2019 Shanghai Masters.

The ATP was compelled to begin an inquiry, which they completed in 2023 after determining that Sharypova’s assertions were not supported by “sufficient evidence.”
Zverev is under pressure
Zverev faced increased pressure in 2020 after his child’s mother, Brenda Patea, an additional ex-girlfriend, accused him of trying to choke her in a Berlin apartment. After Patea brought him to court, The Guardian reports that a German punishment ruling in October 2023 resulted in a fine of 450,000 euros for him. He filed an appeal, and the first week of the May 2024 court proceedings saw him reach a six-figure settlement with Patea, ending their protracted legal dispute in time for him to appear on millions of television screens worldwide.

the globe while competing in the French Open final.
Zverev has experienced little to no consequences, despite the German court system upholding his defamation accusations. He was included in Netflix’s now-canceled tennis tour documentary series, which did not address the accusations, and the ATP concluded its investigations into the subject. There was also no conflict in the locker room (he was even voted to represent them on the ATP Players Council earlier this year).
Rather, as the story in The Washington Post implies, the publishers bore the consequences. Zverev succeeded in obtaining a preliminary injunction against Slate in Germany, forcing them to “geoblock” the piece while maintaining their integrity and making it accessible to users in the US and India.

Technicalities allowed Racquet to get away with it without much of a legal battle. It was “due to an error in how the lawsuit was served to Racquet’s publisher,” according to a story from The Washington Post. However, Rothenberg is currently involved in the legal dispute.
Now that his online following has resumed providing financial support, he is compelled to battle on his own.

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