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Sloane Stephens is certain the WTA would have handled a case like Alexander Zverev's much better and would not have allowed a player standing trial to be in a position to impact decisions made on the Tour.
Zverev, ranked at No. 6 in the world, has been elected by his peers to the ATP Players' Advisory Council at the start of this season. Just two weeks after receiving a representative council position, Zverev learned that his trial in the physical abuse allegations made by his ex-girlfriend would start on May 31st.
When the Zverev trial news came out on Monday, several top ATP players were asked to give their opinions on the situation. However, neither wanted to make comments that would support or bash Zverev. Instead, the majority of players asked claimed they were unaware of what was happening or didn't know much about the case to be giving opinions.
But Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion and someone who was on the WTA Players' Council for several years, was willing to address the situation.
Stephens on Zverev being elected to the ATP Player Advisory Council
“I think that the ATP kind of beats their own drum. They do what they do on that side,” Stephens said when asked about Zverev being elected to the ATP council while awaiting a trial.
“Would that happen on the WTA Tour? Probably not. Again, he’s going to trial, and he will be judged by his peers and we will see what happens after that.”
Over the last couple of days, some have been calling on the ATP to ban Zverev. However, Stephens doesn't expect anything like that to happen, until at least Zverev's trial is over.
“I guess the ATP will then decide what they will do with their player after that... For three years no one has done anything, so I don’t think another five months of waiting for a criminal trial to happen is going to change much on either side," Stephens said.