Under the roof of Chatrier, as if no time had passed and nothing had changed, they, Marcel and Horacio, Horacio and Marcel, triumph, jump, hug, and celebrate again. Déjà vu this Saturday at Roland Garros, where Granollers and Zeballos, both a tribute to simplicity, normality, and having no airs whatsoever, repeat and are crowned for the second time, imposing and unbeatable. Very happy. They win 6-4 and 6-2 (in 1h 16m) against the world’s second-ranked pair, Finland’s Harri Heliovaara and Britain’s Henry Patten, and merge with their own, sprayed with water: “Go, go!”. The Argentine says: “I never would have imagined that at 40 I would still be here…”. But there’s plenty of rope left, it seems. It’s the third major they’ve won together.
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And their voices echo through the central court, where a year ago there was more substance —the 2h 22m and three sets invested against the British Salisbury and Skupski— and this time they catch it on a windy and cool, autumnal day, but much more placid inside the rectangle. The opponent’s response is insufficient in the first act and the development of the second (double break of serve and a 5-1 lead) is nothing more than the confirmation that today, on the sand of Paris, they rule; that they have taken a liking to winning, indeed. They have 16 trophies in total and three majors within a year. It took a while to open the can, four major finals, but it’s a happy continuation for the two, who embarked on the adventure in 2019 and discovered a goldmine. Doubles, a paradisiacal alternative.
“It was a way to be reborn. And here we are,” simplifies Zeballos, the lefty, the beacon, the one who guides, and Marcel the one who finishes everything. Craftsmanship on all four sides and above all, “a lot of commitment,” “the day-to-day.” Only then can this be understood, they say. “I am 41 years old and I still love watching tennis and matches, having that passion, that desire. That’s how everything becomes easier,” emphasizes the Mar del Plata native, while his partner, 40, stresses that the fundamental thing “is the mind.” The Barcelona native is living a second youth —”or the third already, right?”— and after a very remarkable individual career —world No. 19, four trophies and two Davis Cups before switching to the other format—, he discovered paradise.
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“Tennis takes you down different paths and we were good at it. This way we could aim for titles and certain things that were very difficult to achieve. I think in the end it was a good decision. When we finish our career, we will have titles that we wouldn’t have had otherwise,” he reasons. Of course, he doesn’t lack them. He has 33 laurels, 10 of them in the Masters 1000 category, the sweetness of being number one, a constant presence in the top-10 and also in the year-end master stage… And it doesn’t stop there: he is already on par as a doubles player with Emilio Sánchez Vicario, winner of another four Grand Slams. From a national perspective, only Vivi Ruano (10) and Arantxa Sánchez Vicario (6) surpass them.
“And when the time comes, I’ll leave [retire] very calmly…”, points out the Argentine. For now, they will take 300,000 euros each, and history shows that they are the fifth duo to retain the Paris crown after Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Daniel Vacek (1996-97); Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi (2005-06); Max Mirny and Daniel Nestor (2011-12) and more recently the Germans Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies (2019-20).
