Granollers and Zeballos, on top of the world as doubles No. 1s

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos wrote their names in ATP Tour history on Monday by climbing to the joint-No. 1 spot in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings for the first time. After competing together for more than four years, the Spaniard and 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 in the Caja Magica for two of the sport's veterans. Granollers (38) and Zeballos (39) achieved one of their biggest sporting dreams and in doing so kept alive one of their main goals.

“I still can’t believe it,” Granollers told ATP Tour, beaming at what he had achieved. “On Monday, we’ll be No. 1 but of course it’s been a long, complex road. Doing it in my country, with a packed court, with my people... Doing it here was so special. It was a very important milestone in my career. I’m proud to have come through tough moments, both in my singles and doubles career. I managed to overcome those moments and now I have my reward.”

“I’m so happy about what we’ve achieved as a team and as players,” exclaimed Zeballos, the first Argentine man to reach the top of the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings. “It’s a dream. We all say ‘I want to be No. 1’ when we start playing tennis. Now we’ve done it and it’s an amazing feeling. We shared it not only with the team, but also with Marcel and his brother and I was also lucky 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 started to play together in the 2019 season, they have claimed 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 qualified for the past four Nitto ATP Finals.

“Both Horacio and I had our singles careers and we weren’t fully focused on doubles,” Granollers explained. “Now, we’ve been playing just doubles and that gives you more time to prepare for matches, more time to practise specific things that you need for doubles. You can’t do these things in the same way when you have your singles career. In terms of our game, we can both handle any surface, we have skills for the singles and doubles disciplines. When one thing is required above another, we can do it. We’re both pretty complete players and we blend very well.”

“The key has been our consistency,” agreed Zeballos. “We haven’t won a Grand Slam, but we’ve reached No. 1 in the world. To be No. 1 in the world you have to have at least 6,000 points. That means the whole year has gone very well. It means you’ve been working hard, getting to know the person by your side 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’re achieving. We get together and we’re able to tell each other things as they are. The relationship I’ve 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 stretch beyond occupying the Tour’s top spot. With long careers under their belts and an ever-growing list of achievements, both players are as hungry as ever and prepared to wring every last drop out of their career.

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

“I hope it happens”, added Granollers, who played two other major finals alongside Marc López before joining forces with the Argentine. “Reaching No. 1 is something we hoped would happen. With daily hard work, in the end all we have to think about is improving. We have to maintain our excitement and hope. Hopefully it can happen.”

On a national level, both of them have achieved some hugely important feats. Granollers has become the second Spanish man to reach No. 1 in doubles, following in the footsteps of Emilio Sánchez-Vicario in the 1989 season for six weeks. As for Zeballos, he is the first ever man from his country to achieve the feat. It is something that has not gone unnoticed in the South American nation.

“I wasn’t expecting it at all,” admitted Zeballos, caught off-guard by the impact his achievement has had on the other side of the Atlantic. “Tennis is a very big sport in Argentina... It’s kind of 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. That also makes me very proud because people are paying attention.”

“I know how much work I’ve put into both my singles and doubles careers,” explained Granollers. “In singles there were certainly people who were more talented, 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 has allowed me to do things that in singles, because of my level, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve. In doubles I can aim for big things.”

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