Scouting Report: Alexander Zverev leads Acapulco, Jack Draper returns to Dubai | ATP Tour

Scouting report

Scouting Report: Zverev leads Acapulco, Draper returns to Dubai, Cerundolo headlines in San Diego

An executive summary of what every fan should know about next week’s content

February 22, 2026

The ATP Tour season continues this week across three continents and two venues. Alexander Zverev leads the way at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Presentado por HSBC in Acapulco, while Felix Auger-Aliassim is the top seed at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships. Jack Draper returns to tour at ATP 500 hard court event.

Francisco Cerundolo and Luciano Darderi lead the clay court action at the BCI Seguros Chile Open in Santiago.

ATPTour.com breaks down five things to watch for at each event.

Five Things to Watch in Acapulco
1) Former champion Zverev: Zverev, ranked fourth in the PIF ATP rankings, is the top seed at the ATP 500 hard-court event in Acapulco. The German has lifted the trophy at the 2021 tournament and is chasing his first title of the year. The 28-year-old made his debut against Corentin Moutet.

2) De Minaur is rolling: Alex de Minaur arrived in Mexico after winning the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam earlier this month. The Australian has great memories in Acapulco, having won the trophy in his past two tournaments in 2023 and 2024. The 27-year-old will start this week against the qualifiers.

3) Ruud & Davidovich Fokina enter the top 4 seeds: Casper Ruud returned to the Tour de Delray Beach last week (QF) following the birth of his first daughter. The third-seeded Norwegian reaches the final in Acapulco in 2024. Fourth seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina hopes to finally win his first tour-level title this week. The Spaniard lost to Tomas Machak in last year’s tournament championship.

4) Monfils, Hodahl and Pacheco Mendes receive wild cards: Gael Monfils returns to Acapulco for the first time since reaching the finals in 2009. The Frenchman is chasing his first victory in 2026. #NextGenATP Spaniard Rafael Jordal has won tour-level matches at the Australian Open and Delray Beach this year, and the 19-year-old Spaniard hopes to get closer to the top 100 this week. Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez, a 20-year-old Mexican player, reached the quarterfinals in Acapulco last season. He first faced fifth seed Flavio Coboli.

5) Harrison/Skupski lead the doubles draw: Christian Harrison and Neal Skupski enjoyed a perfect start to the year at the Australian Open, winning their first Grand Slam as a team. US-UK is the top seed in Acapulco. Hugo Nys and Edouard Roger-Vasselin are the second seeds.

Five things to watch out for in Dubai
1) Auger-Aliassime top seed: The Canadians have won eight of their past nine matches to lift the trophy in Montpellier and advance to the final in Rotterdam, according to the Infosys ATP Win-Loss Index. Auger-Aliassime reached the final in Dubai last season, losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

2) Can Bublik win his second title in 2026? Alexander Bublik won in Hong Kong and broke into the top ten for the first time in the first week of the 2026 season. The 28-year-old has great memories in Dubai, having reached the final in 2024.

3) Draper Returns: Draper will compete in an ATP Tour event for the first time this year. The British left-hander played in one Davis Cup qualifying match in early February but has not played a singles match since the U.S. Open in August due to a left arm injury. Draper, making her Dubai debut, is the fourth seed.

4) Form of Fils & Mensik: Arthur Fels continued his comeback in Doha but lost to Carlos Alcaraz in the final. The Frenchman returned to the Tour de Montpellier in early February after suffering a long-term back injury. His first match was against eighth seed Jiri Lehecka. Sixth seed Jakub Mencic defeated Janik Sinner before losing to Fiers in the Doha semi-finals, but will hope to move on in Dubai, where he will face Hubert Hurkacs.

5) Former champions participate: In a fiercely competitive arena, defending champion Tsitsipas, 2024 champion Ugo Humbert, 2023 champion Daniil Medvedev, 2022 champion Andrei Rublev and 2016 champion Stan Wawrinka compete. Humbert faced Tsitsipas in the first round, with the Frenchman leading 3-1 in the Lexus ATP series against the Greek.

Five Things to Watch in San Diego
1) Cerundolo Headlines: Top 20 star Francisco Cerundolo will compete for his second Golden Swing title in San Diego. The 27-year-old triumphed in Buenos Aires in early February and now competes in the ATP 250 clay-court event in Chile.

2) Former champion Baez: Sebastian Baez has often found his best on South American clay courts, winning four trophies. As the 2024 champion in Santiago, the Argentinian will hope to bounce back from his first-round exit in Rio de Janeiro.

3) Tabilo leads home hopes: Alejandro Tabilo, Tomas Barrios Vera, Christian Garin, Nicolas Jarry and Matias Soto are the five Chilean stars included in the draw. Eighth-seeded Tabilo faced Barrios Vera in the first round. Jarry won the championship in San Diego in 2023, while Garin won it in his hometown in 2021. Soto, 26, is making his first appearance in the main draw.

4) Threats from Dadri and Berrettini: Second-seeded Luciano Dadri and sixth-seeded Matteo Berrettini have won a combined 10 tour-level clay-court titles. Darderi, a four-time champion, advanced to the quarterfinals in 2024 in San Diego. Berrettini makes his ATP 250 debut.

5) Gonzalez/Moltny doubles top seeds: Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni are the top seeds in the doubles draw. The Argentinian is seeking a first franchise title since Barcelona in 2024.