'What is going on? Wow!' - Alexander Zverev gaffe stuns John McEnroe, gets booed for rant at French Open

Updated 25/05/2022 at 17:16 GMT

Third seed Alexander Zverev found himself getting booed for yelling at his box following a wild double-fault and also suffered the embarrassment of a fluffed smash in a less-than-impressive few minutes during his second-round clash with Sebastian Baez of Argentina at the French Open. John McEnroe gave his thoughts on both incidents while on commentary for Eurosport.

'What is going on? Wow!' - Zverev misses easy smash in bizarre gaffe

Alexander Zverev left Eurosport commentator John McEnroe and many Parisian fans baffled by some of his play early on in his second-round match at the French Open.

The fiery German, who is seeded No. 3 at Roland-Garros, slumped horribly early on against Sebastian Baez of Argentina as he lost the opening set 6-2 and found himself down a break in the second.

A catalogue of errors and issues blighted Zverev's early play in the match as Baez capitalised ruthlessly. Indeed, the 21-year-old from Buenos Aires could barely believe his luck at times as his opponent struggled.

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McEnroe, who was on commentary for Eurosport during the contest on Court Philippe Chatrier, could not believe what he was watching - particularly with one moment early in the second set.

Zverev wound himself up ready for a big smash, only to realise that the ball hadn't bounced as high as he had predicted. He was forced to stoop down low and made a total hash of the effort as he fired it long.

"Oh! What in the world is going on?!" exclaimed McEnroe in the booth.

"Who is seeded three here? Baez or Zverev? Wow!"

In what amounted to a brutal few minutes for the 25-year-old, he also got booed for yelling at his camp up in the stands with his father seemingly the object of his frustrations.

Angry Zverev gets booed for shouting at his camp after double-fault

The Paris crowd appeared to take exception to his angry reaction after what was a strange double-fault. Serving in windy conditions, he had attempted a big second serve which went very wrong.

"I don't think his father told him to try a 130mph second serve at break point down in the mind, but maybe we will find out!" quipped McEnroe.

Fortunately for the German, he was able to carve out a quite remarkable comeback in five sets as Baez slowly saw his level drift slightly and was ruthlessly beaten when it really mattered.

The world No. 3 was eventually able to rally to victory as he pulled off a battling and impressive 2-6 4-6 6-1 6-2 7-5 win.

Zverev has found himself in a nightmare section of the draw with world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, 13-time champion Rafael Nadal and rising star Carlos Alcaraz all in his half at Roland-Garros.

Speaking after wrapping up his passage to the next round, Zverev praised his opponent and revealed his words of consolation.

"I told Sebastian this is the worst he will ever feel on the tennis court, this moment," he began. It was such an incredible match. I know this too well - I lost the US Open final from two sets ahead, The next year I won the Olympic Gold and the ATP Tour Finals. He's a great kid. He's going to do a lot of unbelievable things in this sport."

Asked what spurred on his improvement in the second set, he said: "I couldn't have played worse, that set. I just tried to fight. In those moments you're not going to play great every single match, and you have to find a way to win this match. I'm happy with still being in the tournament right now.

"I was planning my holiday in Monaco, where I’m going to go. That relaxed me a bit, thinking of the beach. There’s not much you can do, you just have to find a way You talk about mental strength, talk about Rafa [Nadal] and Novak [Djokovic]. I’ll never be on their level but I’m trying got get closer to them."