Emmanuel Thomas, DPA, Tuesday, June 6, 2023
BERLIN – Olympic champion Alexander Zverev is allowed to take insulin shots on court at the French Open, a spokesperson for the tournament organizers told dpa on Tuesday after the player was told by officials that it looks “weird.”
Should the German player, who has diabetes, go into the dressing room to do so, it wouldn’t count as one of the two possible toilet breaks.
Zverev complained on Monday evening that officials at the French Open this year have been issuing conflicting advice over where he can inject his insulin.
“The officials said I need to leave the court,” Zverev said after his fourth round win over Grigor Dimitrov on Monday. “During my last match, they told me then this would count as a toilet break.”
“I replied: ‘Guys, come on! I only have two toilet breaks in a match but in a best-of-five-match sometimes I have to inject four, or five times.'”
He was told that “it looks weird” when he takes his insulin shot on court.
“If I don’t do it, my life will be in danger. But they said it looks weird. This discussion makes no sense,” Zverev said.
In August 2022, Zverev made it public that he suffers from diabetes type 1 and that the condition was diagnosed when he was a child. Last August, he launched the Alexander Zverev Foundation to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body produce little or no insulin. Type 1, as in Zverev’s case, is not yet curable, so those affected have to take insulin shots for the rest of their lives.
