Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos, at the top of the world as number 1 couples | ATP Tour

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Granollers and Zeballos, at the top of the world as No. 1 duos

The world’s new co-number 1s reflect on their achievements

May 6, 2024

Horacio Zeballos (left) and Marcel Granollers are now world No. 1 in the PIF ATP doubles rankings.
By Álvaro Rama

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos wrote their names in ATP Tour history on Monday as they climbed to No. 1 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings for the first time. After competing together for more than four years, the Spaniard and the Argentine are now side by side at the pinnacle of the sport.

After reaching the semi-finals of the Mutua Madrid Open last week, emotions were running high at Caja Magica for two veterans of the sport. Granollers (38) and Zeballos (39) fulfilled one of their biggest sporting dreams and in doing so kept one of their main goals alive.

“I still can’t believe it,” Granollers told the ATP Tour, overjoyed at what he had achieved. “On Monday we will be number 1, but of course it has been a long and complex road. Doing this in my country, with a packed court, with my people… Doing it here was very special. It was a very important milestone in my career. I’m proud to have gone through difficult times, both in my singles and doubles career. I managed to overcome those moments and now I have my reward.”

“I’m very happy with what we achieved as a team and as players,” exclaimed Zeballos, the first Argentine to reach the top of the PIF ATP Doubles rankings. “It’s a dream. We all said ‘I want to be number 1’ when we started playing tennis. Now we’ve done it and it’s an incredible feeling. We shared it not only with the team but also with Marcel and his brother and I was also lucky enough to have my family here. It was beautiful.”

Granollers and Zeballos’ path to the pinnacle of their sport is a story of perseverance. Since they began playing together in the 2019 season, they have won seven tour-level trophies – including five ATP Masters 1000 crowns – and reached three Grand Slam finals, making them one of the most feared duos on the ATP Tour. Through their consistency, they have qualified for the last four Nitto ATP Finals.

“Both Horacio and I had our singles careers and we weren’t fully focused on doubles,” Granollers explained. “Now we only play doubles and that gives you more time to prepare for matches, more time to practice specific things you need for doubles. You can’t do these things the same way when you have your single career. In terms of the game, we can both handle any surface, we have the ability to play singles and doubles. When one thing is required above another, we can do it. We are both very complete players and we combine very well.”

“The key has been our consistency,” agreed Zeballos. “We didn’t win a Grand Slam, but we reached number one in the world. To be number 1 in the world you need to have at least 6,000 points. This means that the entire year went very well. It means that you have worked hard, getting to know the person next to you and the team you form better and better, [Marcel] with his brother and I with my coach Ale. Every day the four of us sit down to see how we can improve and what we are achieving. We come together and can tell each other things like they are. The relationship I have had with Marcel for many years is what makes our level so good.”

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Some players who reach the pinnacle have ambitions that go beyond being top of the Tour. With long careers and an ever-growing list of achievements, both players are hungrier than ever and prepared to squeeze every last drop out of their careers.

“The only way to remain at this level, in this jungle of competitiveness, is to seek new goals. Always looking to fight for more and more. If you stand still, you will be overtaken. You have to look for new goals. One of our goals is to try for a Grand Slam,” admitted Zeballos, who is excited by the prospect of winning any of the four majors after coming so close with Granollers by his side at the US Open (2019) and Wimbledon (2021, 2023 ). “If that doesn’t happen, I’ll be fine. I will have peace of mind knowing I did everything I could. I don’t want to leave anything in the tank.”

“I hope it happens,” added Granollers, who played in two other major finals alongside Marc López before joining forces with the Argentine. “Reaching first place is something we hoped would happen. With a lot of daily work, in the end we just have to think about improving. We have to maintain our enthusiasm and hope. I hope that can happen.”

At a national level, both achieved extremely important achievements. Granollers became the second Spaniard to reach number one in doubles, following in the footsteps of Emilio Sánchez-Vicario in the 1989 season over six weeks. As for Zeballos, he is the first man from his country to achieve the feat. It is something that has not gone unnoticed in the South American nation.

“I didn’t expect anything like that,” admitted Zeballos, taken by surprise by the impact his achievement had on the other side of the Atlantic. “Tennis is a very important sport in Argentina… It’s like football as a sport. I’m fascinated by football, there’s nothing I talk about more. Now, tennis has become one of the most important things. It also makes me really proud that people are paying attention.”

“I know how much work I put into my singles and doubles careers,” Granollers explained. “In the singles there were certainly more talented people, but I did everything I could. I think I had a good career. When things weren’t going so well, I switched to doubles and it was a good decision. It’s another path that allowed me to do things that I wouldn’t have been able to do individually, at my level. In doubles I can aim for big things.”

Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es.