Twenty-three years into his professional career, the body may creak a bit, but the mind of Nenad Zimonjic remains ambitious. A long-time custodian of doubles and its promotion, Zimonjic is a fervent and proud ambassador. Today, in his 42nd year, the Serbian has become the 10th player to record 700 doubles match wins (or more).

The feat encompasses an 18-year span from his first tour-level match win with Nebojsa Djordjevic in a Davis Cup zonal tie in May 1995 to his 700th victory today with Marcin Matkowski in the German Tennis Championships 2017 first round (d. Berlocq-Schwartzman).

“It’s nice to play in Hamburg again, for the first time since 2012, and to achieve the 700th match win in a country of such rich tennis tradition,” Zimonjic told ATPWorldTour.com. “It means a lot to join this ‘Club’, it’s a lot of wins and I want to thank all my partners over the years.”

DOUBLES MATCH WINS LEADERS (Since 1973)

Zimonjic started playing tennis in Belgrade at the age of nine under a bubble, at two clubs with a total of five courts, often at 11 o’clock at night. “It was freezing cold because that was the only time we could get a court and there were a lot of travel restrictions,” Zimonjic remembers.

For many years, ‘Zimo’ competed as a singles and doubles player, and whilst the Serbian remains proud of his four ATP Challenger Tour titles and his lone Top 10 win over then No. 6-ranked Andre Agassi at 2004 St. Pölten in Austria, it is on the doubles court where he continues to build his legacy.

Zimonjic has ranked among the finest doubles players of the past 13 years, a product of dedication, commitment and longevity, and, most importantly, desire to adapt and evolve. In 10 of the past 12 years he has ranked among the Top 15 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings – including one year-end No. 1 finish in 2008.

“The reason why I still play is definitely because I love the sport and I love tennis,” said Zimonjic. “I still enjoy it and enjoy playing in front of big crowds and having the best opponents on the other side of the net. I love being part of this incredible generation, where tennis has been at the highest level. I love the life and travelling. I would love to keep playing as long as I can, as long as my body lets me.”

Whilst Zimonjic has played successfully with Leander Paes, Fabrice Santoro and Michael Llodra, his greatest achievements came with Canada’s Daniel Nestor between October 2007 and November 2010, when the pair took the team game to new heights in their battles with Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan. Fans still fondly remember how the 2008 Nitto ATP Finals – one of two year-end tournaments that Nestor and Zimonjic won (also 2010) – and the year-end No. 1 went down to the wire with the American twins.

“For three years, we were meeting in a lot of big finals, and it was either us winning the title or them winning the title,” Bob Bryan told ATPWorldTour.com. “In 2008, 2009 and 2010, doubles tennis was pretty much dominated by us and them. We consider him probably one of the two or three biggest rivals of our career.”

During that period, Nestor and Zimonjic captured three crowns (2008-09 Wimbledon, 2010 Roland Garros) from six Grand Slam championship finals and went 22-10 in title matches. Overall, the team won 26 titles – from their first at the 2001 Open Sud de France in Lyon (d. Eagle/Stolle) to the 2014 Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Haase/F. Lopez).

“We know we always have to bring our best stuff against him, because he always does the same against us,” Mike Bryan told ATPWorldTour.com. “He’s stood the test of time. He’s seen a lot of generations pass, and he’s still out here, 20 years later, which is pretty cool. The longevity is pretty awesome.

“It’s amazing to see. Now guys are lasting until 40, which was unheard of 10 years ago, so he’s kind of set the bar – him, Nestor and Leander – for us to look up to and try to shoot for that mark.”

Zimonjic has harnessed a powerful serve with precise volleys, and an amazing backhand return, to first rise to No. 1 on 17 November 2008. He stayed at the top of the team game for 50 weeks over five stints (through to August 2010) and to date has won 54 titles (54-37 final record). In an age where doubles strategy is often determined by the dexterity of singles players competing alongside experienced doubles exponents, 41-year-old Zimonjic remains ambitious.

“The key for me now is to get back into the Top 30 in order to have a regular partner,” said Zimonjic, who is currently at No. 48 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings. “It would be a great honour to play once with Roger [Federer] or Rafa [Nadal] for one week, but I don’t have any plans to stop yet. I’m having too much fun playing the sport I love.”

David Ferrer completed first-round action on Wednesday at the German Tennis Championships 2017 by beating Hamburg debutant Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 in just over two hours. Eighth seed Ferrer, who reached the 2014 final (l. to L. Mayer), captured his 27th tour-level title and third crown at the SkiStar Swedish Open (d. Dolgopolov) on Sunday. The 35-year-old Spaniard will now face Argentinean Federico Delbonis in the second round.

Elsewhere, Jiri Vesely worked his way past Fernando Verdasco, who experienced his third straight first-round loss in Hamburg, in a 7-6(7), 6-7(0), 6-3 win over two hours and 45 minutes. The pair resumed at the start of the third set after rain postponed the match on Tuesday. Vesely now plays Argentinean Horacio Zeballos.

Aljaz Bedene cruised past lucky loser Jose Hernandez-Fernandez, a replacement for Rogerio Dutra Silva, in a 6-1, 6-2 win over 69 minutes. Bedene contested his second ATP World Tour final as a qualifier in Budapest at the Gazprom Hungarian Open (l. to Pouille) in April.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

Florian Mayer, playing at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament for the 12th time, became the first player into the quarter-finals after the German 2011 semi-finalist beat Andrey Kuznetsov 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. Last week, Kuznetsov reached his third ATP World Tour semi-final of the year in Båstad (l. to Dolgopolov). Mayer will face sixth seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, who advanced to his sixth quarter-final of the season by outlasting Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

Swiss Henri Laaksonen won the match of the day at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open Gstaad on Wednesday in a three-hour comeback victory over two-time former champion Thomaz Bellucci.

Laaksonen first held a match point opportunity at 5-4 in the second set, when Bellucci served at 30/40. Bellucci recovered and went on to take a 5-2 lead in the decider, but the Brazilian won just four points in the next five games as World No. 95 Laaksonen wrapped up a memorable 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 7-5 win. Bellucci captured the Gstaad title in 2009 as a qualifier (d. Becker) and in 2012 (d. Tipsarevic).

Earlier in the day, Roberto Bautista Agut lost just nine of his service points in a 6-4, 6-3 second-round victory over French qualifier Gleb Sakharov in 84 minutes. The second-seeded Spaniard will next face Denis Istomin, who hit 11 aces and lost only four of his service points in a 40-minute 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Sixth seed and 2013, 2016 runner-up Robin Haase did not face a break point in a 7-5, 7-5 win over Thiago Monteiro in just over 90 minutes. He now awaits the winner of top seed David Goffin, the 2015 finalist, or Radu Albot in the last eight. Albot defeated 2013 champion and former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny on Tuesday.

Paolo Lorenzi endured a tense wait for a place in the second round. The fifth seed, who reached last week’s Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag final (l. to Rublev) beat Marco Chiudinelli 7-6(2), 6-2. Lorenzi failed to convert three set points opportunities at 5-2, two at 5-4, but finally sealed his sixth set point chance in the tie-break. The Italian will next challenge Ernests Gulbis, who knocked out qualifier Daniel Brands 6-4, 6-4 in 82 minutes.

 Watch Live On TennisTV

 Watch Full Match Replays

Malek Jaziri will not forget his opening-round fight-back at the BB&T Atlanta Open in a hurry. The Tunisian saved an astonishing eight match points to deny last year’s semi-finalist, home favourite Reilly Opelka, on Tuesday.

Jaziri had defeated the #NextGenATP player in their only prior meeting in Washington last season but it took three tie-breaks. On Tuesday, the 33 year old would again eke out a tie-break against the 6’11” American and what a turning point it proved.

Jaziri hung in to fend off four match points on serve at 5-6 in the second set and a further four match points at 6/7, 7/8, 8/9 and 13/14 in the tie-break. He would concede just one game in the final set as he ran away with a 5-7, 7-6(14), 6-1 result.

Jaziri withstood 26 aces from the 19 year old and was constantly under the pump on his own serve as he fought off 12 of 14 break points. It sets a second-round meeting with 20-year-old American Tommy Paul.

In an all-American #NextGenATP showdown, 21 year old wild card Christopher Eubanks landed his maiden ATP World Tour match win when he surprised Taylor Fritz 7-6(5), 6-4. Eubanks’ 11 aces and conversion on his sole break-point opportunity paved his way to a second-round meeting with eighth seed Jared Donaldson.

“Being able to play in the tournament in my hometown is already difficult to put into words, but to be able to come out and win in front of the crowd it’s beyond comprehension,” Eubanks said. “I like to impose my will no matter who I’m playing so that was the game plan going in. I think I did a really good job of that.”

Eubanks said players always said that they expected to win no matter who they stepped on to the court against. He chose to take a different approach, however.

“I try to expect to play as well as I can play and be able to live with that result, so if I play well and it still goes the other way I have nothing to hang my head about it,” he said. “It also shows me what I need to improve if I play well and I don’t win.”

Australian John Millman was contesting just his third main draw match of the season on Tuesday, having missed the first four months of the year with a torn tendon in his groin. The 28 year old posted his most promising result since his return with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(5) opening-round victory over #NextGenATP American player, Frances Tiafoe.

Tiafoe broke to serve for the match at 6-5 in the deciding set but could not close it out. Millman’s win books a second-round clash with No. 4 seed Ryan Harrison.

Fifth-seeded Brit Kyle Edmund got his BB&T Atlanta Open debut off to a solid start with a 6-3, 7-5 win over 2015 runner-up Marcos Baghdatis. In an all-American encounter, sixth seed Donald Young joined Edmund in the second round after a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over qualifier Tim Smyczek. He saved all five break points faced and will next meet Slovak Lukas Lacko.

Vasek Pospisil booked a second-round meeting with second seed and last week’s Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open champion John Isner. The Canadian ground out a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(3) victory against American Bjorn Fratangelo.