03/05/2024
Barcelona’s Marcel Granollers will make history this coming Monday by becoming the new world No. 1 in doubles, shared with his usual partner on the circuit, the Argentine Horacio Zeballos. He will do so at the age of 38, being the second Spaniard to lead the specialty after Emilio Sánchez Vicario in 1989.
A year before the creation of the computerized doubles ranking in 1976, the Spanish couple formed by Manolo Orantes and Juan Gisbert had finished first in the Grand Prix in 1975, after winning the first Masters played in Stockholm.
Granollers and Zeballos reach this shared world number one after reaching the semifinals of the Madrid Masters 1000 last night, with a hard-fought victory over the Monegasque Hugo Nys and the Polish Jan Zielinski by 4-6 6-2 [16-14]after an exciting super tie-break that lasted 27 minutes.
The most regular of 2024
This year they have reached 3 finals in Auckland, Buenos Aires and the Indian Wells Masters 1000, in addition to being semi-finalists in the Miami and Monte Carlo Masters 1000, and eighth-finalists in the Australian Open.
Marcel Granollers reached No. 19 in the world in the individual ranking in July 2012, winning 4 titles in 7 finals on the circuit. Doubles has allowed him to extend his career with another 25 titles in 54 finals played with different couples.
Masters champion in 2012
The most notable was in 2012 winning the Doubles Masters in London with Marc López, being the second Spanish couple in history to win it after Manuel Orantes and Juan Gisbert.
His record includes 5 Grand Slam finals, the first two with Marc López (Roland Garros and US Open 2014) and the rest with his current partner Horacio Zeballos (US Open 2019, Wimbledon 2021 and 2023).
Another 5 Spaniards have entered the Top-10 of the world doubles ranking since its creation: Sergio Casal (1991) and Mar López (2013) reached No. 3, David Marrero (2013) at No. 4, Fernando Verdasco (2013) to No. 8 and Javier Sánchez (1990) to No. 9.
Photo: @Mutua Madrid Open.