Emerging tennis prodigy Alexander Zverev has reflected on his upbringing after disposing of Novak Djokovic in the Italian Open final.
The 20-year-old won his first ATP Masters title in Rome by upsetting second seed Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 -- becoming the first player born in the 1990s to win a Masters 1000 title in the process.
Germany's Zverev is the younger brother of world No. 33 Mischa Zverev and believes the competitive nature of their relationship has been a key factor in his success.
Zverev, who has broken into the top 10, told The Independent: "We're very competitive together. Everything we do has to be some kind of competition.
"My success has a lot to do with Mischa. He was the one who always used to practise with me when I was little, when I was a junior.
"I think he's seen me do well and he's seen me playing on the professional tour and he got really motivated. I think he thought: 'I want to play a few more years with my brother, travel with him and play in the same tournaments as him.'
"Also, since I started playing well we've had a lot of very long and very intensive practice sessions, which I think helped his game and mine."
Zverev heads for the French Open looking for his first Grand Slam title as the ninth seed.