Alexander Zverev gained inside track of himself as a player from Rafael Nadal during Mallorca visit

Fresh off a training bloc at the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Alexander Zverev hopes it's only the beginning of something more.

Contacted by Toni Nadal after his opening Wimbledon loss, Zverev took up the chance to turn their exchanges over the phone into a deeper dive on the court. What followed in Spain was a successful workshop, one the German wants to develop into a more serious collaboration down the road.

“I'm trying to convince him to do more weeks with me, and we'll see how it goes, but he's a very busy man. Also he has a lot of dates that he already committed to this year, so I'm not sure how much of him you'll see this year, because he gave his word to a lot of events and a lot of speeches already,” Zverev told press in Toronto.

“But we're talking about what a potential partnership could look like, for sure. I can give you an update probably in a few weeks time when we know more.”

“Uncle Toni” wasn’t the only familiar face Zverev spent time with during his break from tournament play. For the academy’s namesake, Rafael Nadal, offered the two-time Grand Slam finalist a tell he couldn’t previously divulge when he was one of Zverev’s chief competitors on tour.

“They definitely spent a lot of hours talking to me, and they gave me some great insight. Rafa gave me some great insight of what it actually is like to play against me, because he saw me as a player, he saw me now as a spectator as well,” shared Zverev.

“It was very helpful, and again, we spent hours and hours talking, sometimes until past midnight in some dinners and stuff like that. So it was great to be there.”

He's a great coach, no question about that, but he's a personality that I think can give you a lot of confidence as well, because when he speaks and when Rafa speaks, you listen. Alexander Zverev on Toni Nadal

With Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz opting out of the National Bank Open, Zverev is the top seed at the first of consecutive ATP Masters 1000 events. Having spoken in London about feeling completely empty since his Australian Open final loss to Sinner, Zverev comes into Canada rejuvenated as he bids to lift his second trophy of the season.

“I had four weeks since my last match, which doesn't happen very often, it only happens in the off-season, kind of,” he said. “I'm excited to be here, I'm excited to play again, and I think the time off in the summer was extremely important for me.”

The Hamburg native opens his campaign Tuesday night against Australia’s Adam Walton. U.S. viewers can stream their matchup live on the Tennis Channel app.