Zeballos and Granollers on the Brink of Tennis History: A Shot at World Number 1 in Doubles

Argentine tennis, one step away from writing a golden page in its history. Horacio Zeballos advanced to the quarterfinals of the Madrid Masters 1000 in the company of Marcel Granollers, his doubles partner, and is one match away from reaching world number 1 in this discipline, a place that only three compatriots have been able to occupy. throughout the sport.

The duo arrived in the capital of Spain in the third place of the world ranking, both with 7,130 points. They were behind the Australian, Matthew Ebden, and the Indian, Rohan Bopanna, who are usually a couple in tournaments and had a distance that was not close to those who closed the podium. However, the defeat of the finalists of the last edition in the 16th of this competition caused Zeballos and Granollers to dream big. And they do it like that.

Both came back from the round of 16 match against the Belgians Sander Gillé and Joran Vliegen (they share 21st) by 6-7 (3), 7-5 and 12-10. It should be remembered that they had just debuted with a victory against the Dutch, Tallon Griekspoor (25) and Wesley Koolhof (7) by 6-3 and 7-6 (6). And now, this Thursday they will clash against the Monegasque, Hugo Nys (19), and the Pole, Jan Zieliński (18), from 11:20 (Argentine time) at the Arantxa Sánchez Stadium.

According to the specialized journalist, Danny Miche, Zeballos-Granollers have already left Bopanna behind and are going for first place, but they still lack points. They have 7,310 units and a win against the Europeans will take them to 7,490. In this way, they will surpass Ebden (7,390) by a narrow margin.

The day Zeballos and Granollers were crowned in the Madrid Masters 1000 against the Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (EFE/Rodrigo Jiménez)

Horacio Zeballos always stood out for being a true doubles player and the statistics show this with a final won over two played in singles (Viña del Mar 2013), while with a side he has won 20 titles, among which six Masters stand out. 1000, five of them achieved with the company of the Spanish Marcel Granollers. Both won in Madrid in 2021. All of those achievements led him to compete in the Davis Cup with the Argentine team and achieving the milestone of reaching the top of the ranking would mark his name among the country’s legends.

He would be the second man to achieve this after Gustavo Fernández, who is one of the best national rackets and performs in wheelchair-adapted tennis. However, Paola Suárez was the first in history, because she obtained that privileged place in 2002 and won eight Grand Slam titles (4 Roland Garros, 3 US Open and 1 Australian Open). In November 2010, Gisela Dulko enrolled her last name on her payroll, partnering with the Italian, Flavia Pennetta.

In his entire career, Horacio Zeballos has 342 victories and 208 defeats in doubles. According to the ATP on his official website, he was awarded financial prizes worth more than USD 7,870,000. Until Madrid, his best ranking was third place. So far in 2024, he has not yet won trophies, but he reached the finals of the Auckland ATP 250, Argentina Open and the Indian Wells Masters with Granollers.

In this select list, the name of Guillermo Vilas does not appear. Its mere mention generates immediate controversy because a review request was made years ago to be granted that label in two periods: at the end of 1975 and at the beginning of 1976. This request came after the journalist and tennis historian, Eduardo Puppo, you found discrepancies in the statistics. In May 2015, the British Chris Kermode, head of the ATP, rejected the request and argued in an interview with The New York Times that “it is impossible to rewrite history.”

2024-05-01 21:41:41
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