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@lemm.ee
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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”.

  • 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…

    • 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

    • lud@lemm.ee
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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.