"He deserves all the love he gets": Alexander Zverev praises Andrey Rublev's behaviour off the court with other players

Germany’s Alexander Zverev believes people ‘don’t realise’ how good Andrey Rublev is to other people. The 27-year-old is regarded as one of the nicest people on tour and has often been praised for his behaviour towards other players on the court.

World number two Zverev has been recently quoted in a report by the Tennis Gazette where he again highlighted Rublev's good behaviour off the court. “Andrey Rublev, he’s such a good person,” said Zverev. “I think people don’t realize how good he is actually to others and to people around him so he deserves all the love he gets and he makes me very happy as well.”

Both Zverev and Rublev are set to begin their campaign at the ongoing Indian Wells. The reigning world number two is coming into the competition on the back of a disappointing few events. Since finishing the Australian Open as the runner-up, the 27-year-old has played in four ATP events but only managed to book his place in the quarterfinal or beyond on one occasion. His most recent appearance was at the Indian Wells, where he was knocked out after losing to Netherlands’ Tallon Griekspoor with a score of 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. His opening encounter at the Miami Open will be against Britain’s Jacob Fearnle,y who cemented his spot in the second round of the competition after beating France’s Benjamin Bonzi with a score of 7-6, 2-6, 6-4.

On the other hand, Rublev is also coming into the competition on the back of a few disappointing events. In the last two ATP competitions, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Champions and the Indian Wells, the 27-year-old lost in the opening encounter. He is now set to face Belgium’s Zizou Bergs in the round of 64 on Saturday. The 25-year-old defeated Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the tournament's opening encounter in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 7-5.