Alexander Zverev torn to bits at French Open for behaviour after match

former coach, Rennae Stubbs, tore apart at the for the German star's behaviour during a recent match. The world No. 3 was beaten by Lorenzo Musetti at the Italian Open earlier this month, before launching a series of complaints against his opponent and the equipment used at the event.

Zverev was upset with Musetti's playstyle and raged at the "very slow" and "very heavy" tennis balls being used in Rome. He fumed: "I think he (Musetti) plays similar when he plays on clay all the time. He depends a lot on defence. He depends a lot on the mistakes from other opponents.

"Today was difficult for me to hit winners. It was very slow, very, very heavy. The balls were getting very big."

Zverev, who lost 7-6(1) 6-4 at the quarter-final stage to Musetti, further described the tennis balls as "a joke" in his reaction, which has since been criticised by former world No. 1 Stubbs.

Speaking on her , the Australian said: "No man, your forehand - you are a bigger pusher [than Musetti] on that shot.

"And you hate playing Musetti because he slices to your forehand and you are 17 feet tall. You have the worst grip. You can't get underneath it and you are a p***y when you don't go for it.

"That is why you are never going to be a great player. I mean, you are a great player, but you are never going to win a Grand Slam if you're going to complain about the balls. When was the last time or or complained about the balls? Like what?"

Those scathing comments came on the eve of , who upset him at the Mexican Open this year.

The third seed has struggled this season aside from his run to the final and victory at the Munich Open. He lost his opener in Monte Carlo and failed to reach the semi-finals in Rome, Madrid and Hamburg in the build-up to Roland Garros.

Zverev had his preparations unusually hampered en route to Paris as and was forced to make an emergency landing. The German star laughed the matter off, however, but previously pointed towards as an example that top stars can go through difficult spells in their game.

"Last year Carlos was being asked the same questions," Zverev said. "Because he had a very bad clay court season, and he came in here, was maybe struggling a bit more in the early rounds, but then found his rhythm and won the tournament."