ATP Acapulco: Rafael Nadal with tricky draw, luck for Alexander Zverev
Rafael Nadal got an extremely tricky draw at the ATP 500 tournament in Acapulco. The Spaniard will play his first round match against Mischa Zverev, after which some real calibers could follow. On the other hand, Alexander Zverev was lucky.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Feb 24, 2019, 10:07 am
In his first appearance since the Davis Cup duel against Hungary, Sacha Zverev will first meet a qualifier. Then it goes either against David Ferrer or Tennys Sandgren before the first big test would wait in the quarterfinals with youngster Alex de Minaur. In a possible semi-final, an encounter against Diego Schwartzman or Frances Tiafoe could be waiting for the two seeded Zverev.
His brother Mischa had less luck than the third in the world rankings. With the Spaniard Rafael Nadal, the 31-year-old has caught what is probably the most unpleasant of all the start-ups. Curious: As early as 2017, Nadal met the Hamburg player in Acapulco after an Australian Open final loss in the first match after his return to the tour. At that time, the Mallorcan prevailed smoothly in two sentences.
Strong field of participants despite prominent cancellations
The further path for "Rafa" could lead in turn via Nick Kyrgios, Stan Wawrinka and John Isner. Despite the fact that the surface is the slowest underground of all ATP 500 tournaments on hardcourt , the 17-time Grand Slam champion shouldn't be too happy about the service giants in his part of the draw.
Overall, the Mexican fans can be very satisfied with the field of participants despite some cancellations. Originally, Juan Martin del Potro, Kevin Anderson, Lucas Pouille and Grigor Dimitrov should have competed in Acapulco, but all four had to cancel the event due to physical problems.