Nadal, Zverev, Anderson headline Mexican Open field

Spanish world No. 2 Rafael Nadal , fourth-ranked German Alexander Zverev and South African world No. 6 Kevin Anderson will head up the men’s field at this year’s Mexican Open tennis tournament.

The director of this hard-court ATP and WTA tennis event, which will be held from Feb. 25 until March 2 in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, on Wednesday confirmed the presence of those three stars.

“We’re very happy that Rafa will be with us again. He looked good in his first two matches in Australia and he’s healthy,” Raul Zurutuza said in reference to the Spaniard’s current participation in the Australian Open , the new season’s first Grand Slam tournament.

Nadal, winner of 17 Grand Slam men’s singles titles, won the Mexican Open in 2005 and 2013 and was the runner-up in 2017 but was forced to withdraw from the 2018 tournament at the last minute due to a knee injury.

Fifteen other players currently ranked in the world’s top 50 will be competing in the Mexican Open, an ATP World Tour 500 series event, including American John Isner (10), Argentine Diego Schwartzman (16), Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (21), Australia’s Alex de Minaur (29), American Steve Johnson (34) and Italian Andreas Seppi (35).

Spaniard David Ferrer , a 36-year-old four-time winner who is currently ranked No. 139 and has announced his intention to retire this season, has accepted a wildcard and also is expected to be in action as part of a farewell tour that will conclude at the Madrid Open in May.

Several top-50 women’s singles players also are expected to compete at the 2019 Mexican Open, which is one of the WTA Tour’s International-level tournaments.

They include 2016 winner Sloane Stephens of the United States, who won the 2017 US Open and is currently ranked No. 5 in the world.