Alexander Zverev celebrated his 19th birthday with a hard-fought win over 15th Thomaz Bellucci 6-3 6-7 7-5. He’ll face Malek Jaziri in the third round.
2-time defending champion Kei Nishikori started his 2016 clay court campaign with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Thiemo de Bakker. His next opponent is Jérémy Chardy.
These two players could face each other quite often in the near future: Alex Zverev beat his friend Andrey Rublev 6-1 6-3 in the battle of the new generation.
Photo credit: Marianne Bevis
So close, so far… Young gun Alex Zverev wasted a matchpoint at 5-3 in the third set and Nadal rallied back to win 6-7 6-0 7-5. A cruel defeat but a learning experience for the 18-year old German, whom many see as a future world number one and Grand Slam champion.
Nadal had to fight deep but he produced a good match. Is the good old Rafa back?
Photo credit: Jerry Hammond
adidas announced the signing of rising star Alex Zverev. It’s adidas second big signing after Tomas Berdych earlier this year.
Other adidas tennis ambassadors include 2016 Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Ana Ivanovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
and it seems Alex has already found a new meaning for a d i d a s: