Since teaming up in 2019, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos have been one of the ATP Tour’s premier doubles teams.
The 2024 season has been another banner year for the veteran lefty-righty pair.
Just this week they qualified for the fifth consecutive year for the Nitto ATP Tour Finals, Nov. 10-17 in Turin, Italy. The Spaniard (Granollers) and Argentine (Zeballos) won titles at the Italian Open and Montreal and reached the final at Auckland, Buenos Aires, and Indian Wells. They were semifinalists at the French Open and Wimbledon.
“The key has been our consistency,” said Zeballos. “That means the whole year has gone very well. The relationship I’ve had with Marcel for many years is what makes our level so good.”
“The key has been our consistency.”
Added Granollers: “Both Horacio and I had our singles careers and we weren’t fully focused on doubles. Now, we’ve been playing just doubles and that gives you more time to prepare for matches, more time to practice specific things that you need for doubles. We’re both pretty complete players and we blend very well.”
Yet, there is something conspicuously missing in the glittering doubles careers for the 38-year-old Granollers and 39-year-old Zeballos. They have never won a Grand Slam title, coming close three previous times in reaching the 2019 US Open and 2021 and 2023 Wimbledon finals.
On Sunday, the duo took another major step ahead in their quest as the No. 1 seeds brushed aside the distraction of a brief rain delay and Yuki Bhambri and Albano Olivetti 6-2, 6-2 to move briskly into the US Open quarterfinals. The pair put on a doubles clinic, breaking serve twice in each set and easily holding their own serves by winning 90% of first serve points.
After the 62-minute win, Zeballos acknowledged in a post-match interview to the Grandstand fans how big it would be for them to win that elusive maiden Grand Slam crown later this week at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
“We’ve had a huge year but to win here would be amazing,” he said.
The pair has not been shy in talking about the importance of adding a Grand Slam title to their career resumes.
“The only way to stay at this level, in this jungle of competitiveness, is by looking for new goals,” said Zeballos. “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.”
Granollers, who played two other major finals alongside Marc López before joining forces with the Argentine, said, “I hope it happens. 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.”
Nicolas Pereira, former pro and present-day TV analyst, called the team “dynamic,” but added a word of caution in what has possibly prevented them so far from winning a major. “Lack of power. Neither have huge serves so they have to earn everything they get.”
“We’ve had a huge year but to win here would be amazing."
The path to the final is a tough one with a possible semifinal showdown against three-time defending champions Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury looming.
“If it doesn’t happen, I’ll be fine. I’ll have the peace of mind of knowing that I did everything I could,” said Zeballos. “I don’t want to leave anything in the tank.”
