Rafa Nadal's brutal response to Alexander Zverev umpire incident

Rafa Nadal has responded to the drama surrounding Alexander Zverev and his disqualification from the Mexican Open in Acapulco due to a violent outburst directed at the chair umpire.

Nadal was speaking after defeating lucky loser Stefan Kozlov following the drama of watching Zverev removed from the ATP 500 event.

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The World No.3 was seething that the umpire didn't overrule a line call late in the doubles super tiebreaker, blasting the official with a verbal assault that then turned physical.

The ATP later announced that Zverev had been withdrawn from the entire tournament, meaning he can't play in the singles event either.

"It is difficult to put into words how much I regret my behaviour during and after the doubles match yesterday," Zverev said in a statement.

However, Nadal, following in Novak DJokovic's footsteps, slammed his behaviour and said it needed to be a learning curve for him.

"He deserved the sanction because you can't act in this way," the winner of 21 major titles said after reaching the quarter-final at Acapulco on Wednesday.

"I think he is aware of that and I hope that this serves as a learning process for him and other young players who lose their temper on the court sometimes."

Rafa Nadal does not speculate on Zverev's punishment

According to the ATP rulebook, the on-site supervisor could refer the case higher up for further investigation after completing the process of assessing and issuing any further fines and penalties.

However, Nadal opted not to weigh-in on what sanction will be handed down to the World No.3.

"I think the organisation needs to be strict about it because the images spread quickly on social media and there are millions of children watching and they develop these attitudes," the 35-year-old added.

"I understand there are moments of frustration and anger but we need to try to be an example."

World No.2 Daniil Medvedev, soon to overtake Djokovic in the rankings, said Zverev understands he made a big mistake.

"That's what happened to me a few times," Medvedev said.

"He made a mistake. He paid for it. From what he said, he understands that he made the mistake.

"And that's the most important. People, no matter which job, which sport, everybody makes mistakes.

"It was definitely not nice what he did, but he understands it.

"From my point of view, I understand when you make mistakes, but you regret it and next time you try not to make it."

with AAP

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