Tennis World english 38 Tennis World English 38 | Page 20

The Other Tennis
Brothers
by Giorgio Giannaccini

A
pair
of
siblings
are
making
waves
on
the
ATP
Tour,
and
for
once
we
are
not
talking
about
the
Bryan
brothers.
Indeed,
they
are
not
twins
but
several
years
apart
in
age,
and
while
one
seems
to
be
heading
straight
for
the
top
of
the
rankings,
the
other
is
once
again
reaching
his
best
level
after
several
years
of
injury
and
struggles.

We
are
talking,
of
course,
about
the
brothers
Zverev.
Mischa,
the
oldest,
and
Alexander,
the
youngest,
were
born
ten
years
apart
to
Alexander
Zverev
Senior,
a
former
Soviet
tennis
pro.
He
eventually
moved
to
Germany
and
reached
a
high
of
175
in
the
world
rankings.
He
also
played
in
the
Australian
Open
in
1985
and
Wimbledon
the
following
year.

Mischa
was
born
in
1987
and
achieved
his
best
result
at
the
ATP
Masters
1000
event
in
Rome
in
2009,
where
he
reached
the
quarter-finals
before
losing
to
Roger
Federer
7-6,
6-2.
He
started
the
event
from
qualifying
and
beat
Juan
Carlos
Ferrero,
Thomas
Berdych
and
Gilles
Simon
en
route
to
the
last
eight.
That
year
he
reached
his
best
ranking
of
45
in
the
world
and
reached
the
final
of
the
event
in
Metz,
where
he
lost
to
Gilles
Simon.
As
a
lefthander
who
likes
to
serve
and
volley
quite
frequently,
his
style
of
play
is
vanishingly
rare
on
today’s
Tour.
Alexander,
on
the
other
hand,
is
not
even
20

years
old
(he
was
born
in
1997),
but
has
forged
a
path
to
the
upper
echelons
of
the
game
in
nearly
no
time
at
all.
As
a
player,
he
is
almost
the
complete
opposite
of
his
brother:
righthanded
and
a
lover
of
the
baseline.
He
is,
however,
very
aggressive,
just
like
his
sibling.
Earlier
this
season
Alexander
was
chosen
to
play
in
the
Hopman
Cup
alongside
Sabine