ROGER FEDERER LOSES THRILLER AT HOPMAN CUP TO ZVEREV, NADAL TO FACE THE OLDER ZVEREV BROTHER IN BRISBANE RESULTS

Written by: Staff on 4th January 2017

ROGER FEDERER LOSES THRILLER AT HOPMAN CUP TO ZVEREV, NADAL TO FACE THE OLDER ZVEREV BROTHER IN BRISBANE RESULTS

epa05695002 Alexander Zverev of Germany in action against Richard Gasquet of France during the men's singles match between France and Germany at the Hopman Cup at the Arena in Perth, Australia, 02 January 2017. EPA/TONY MCDONOUGH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

By Ricky Dimon

Roger Federer fell to Alexander Zverev 7-6(1), 6-7(4), 7-6(4) after two hours and 30 minutes during the opening match of Wednesday’s Hopman Cup contest between Switzerland and Germany on Wednesday. But Federer still had a grand old time playing virtual bongos.

That’s right. Bongos.

While countrywoman Belinda Bencic was busy leveling the match for Switzerland with a straight-set victory over Andrea Petkovic, the 35-year-old accepted the “Bongo Cam” challenge on the big screen.

Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer of Switzerland during the mixed doubles match between Great Britain and Switzerland in session 4 of the Hopman Cup at the Arena in Perth, Australia, 02 January 2017. EPA/TONY MCDONOUGH

“I mean, it’s easy to do the bongo like that when Belinda played as well as she did in the singles, so I’m happy I didn’t throw her off and she was still able to win,” Federer joked. “My Dad wrote me an email and said, ‘can you please stop that right now.’ And I was like, ‘are you serious?’ And he was like, ‘this is serious.’”

The former world No. 1 was not much more serious in the deciding mixed doubles showdown, but he and Bencic managed to laugh their way past Zverev and Petkovic to give the Swiss side a 2-1 win over the Germans.

Another former world No. 1 and another Zverev brother will also be in action at the Brisbane International on Thursday. Rafael Nadal has never faced Mischa, but he did run into Alexander at last year’s Indian Wells Masters. That’s where the younger Zverev had one match point but squandered it in a memorable 6-7(8), 6-0, 7-5 loss.

Nadal’s year is off to a strong start both unofficially and officially as he heads into second-round competition in Brisbane. The Spaniard triumphed last week at the six-man Abu Dhabi event with victories over Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic, and David Goffin. He maintained momentum from those results with a 6-3, 6-3 first-round defeat of Alexandr Dolgopolov on Tuesday.

Although this Zverev lacks the same kind of natural talent as his younger sibling, he is coming off a resurgent 2016 campaign. The 29-year-old won 12 ATP-level matches in 2016, including a quarterfinal run at the Shanghai Masters and a semifinal berth in Basel (both as a qualifier).