He has made four Grand Slam main draw appearances, qualifying into the U.S. Open in both 2006 and 2008, Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2009.

At the 2007 Brasil Open, Alves, roared on by his home crowd, scored a famous victory over No.

In the first round of the Johannesburg, SA Tennis Open he lost heavily to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

At Wimbledon he played in the first round as a lucky loser and defeated Andrei Pavel.

He faced 8th seed Gilles Simon in the second round and won the first set but went on to lose.