The news in the middle of the week that the man from Mar del Plata Horacio Zeballos had become number one in the world in the doubles ranking of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) opened an infinite number of windows. The first, obvious and inevitable, was to remember that Cebolla, as they call him almost as a tribute to his tennis player father, teacher and journalist colleague, was one of the four tennis players to win an ATP final on clay (Viña del Mar 2013) . Something that only greats like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray achieved; an enormity.
Another, that He is the only Argentine to reach the top of the ATP rankings, waiting for the appeal presented by my dear friend Eduardo Puppo to be processed, who even went so far as to make a documentary production explaining to the world that Guillermo Vilas was first in the ranking for a few weeks in 1975, an account originally distorted by the governing body of this sport. Other players of ours – the last ones were Axel Geller and Thiago Tirante – achieved the first junior position, which is the orbit of the International Tennis Federation and not the professional field. Paola Suárez and Gisela Dulko also did so in doubles. Necessary clarifications and logical courtesy that do not detract from the achievement of Zeballos and the Spanish Marcel Granollers who, having played together the last calendar year without exception, share the magic figure of 7480 points that will appear in the official classification starting tomorrow, Monday.
Fun fact: the victory in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Master 1000 was the one that secured that number and, at the same time, it was the couple’s last match in the tournament. That is, they didn’t even need to win the tournament to achieve it.
Regarding winning tournaments, so far in 2024, Horacio and Marcel have played 9 tournaments, reached 3 finals, did not win any and even lost a first round at the ATP 500 in Rio de Janeiro.
Once again, consistency trades above spasms. Once, the Ukrainian-born Russian Nikolai Davydenko explained his millionaire logic: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a big or small tournament. As long as I manage to reach the quarterfinals often, I won’t have to work anymore in my life when I leave tennis.” This logic, applied to the ranking, is what ends up giving Alejandro Lombardo’s pupil such an achievement.
Horacio started playing tennis as soon as he started primary school. Until his junior years he was coached by his father. And one of his first public impacts was at the Pan American Games in Rio, in 2007 when he won the gold medal in doubles with Eduardo Schwank. He then also dedicated himself to playing as a singles player only if he accumulated some titles in Futures – the most modest tournaments on the circuit -, finals in Challengers and had not yet debuted in major leagues.
He reached the top 40 in singles in the magical 2013, the one in the final against Rafa, his only title in that branch against 20 achieved as a doubles player. He seems like a lot, but he is far from it for someone with so many years of experience. Considering that she debuted professionally in 2004 it could be simplified to the idea that she “barely” won one doubles tournament per year. Once again, consistency and constancy kills spasm and instability.
One more detail about it. And at the same time it is not “just another detail”. Horacio also did not win Grand Slam titles but reached the semifinals twice in Australia, three at Roland Garros, two finals at Wimbledon, two at the US Open and once at the Masters. A beast and, at the same time, an enormous motivation for what is to come for this talented left-hander who is almost more of a fan of chess than tennis. Something else: even having had extraordinary moments playing for Argentine teams, including several Davis Cup doubles, the Paris Games can be a giant lure for him, who with his ranking ensures a total of six Argentine tennis players in Paris, against a stage in which no one could guarantee how many medals the Argentine delegation will win next July and August.
Between merits and expectations, there are still a couple more windows to open.
A few years ago, the ATP seriously considered eliminating the doubles event from its tournaments and, eventually, creating a parallel circuit solely dedicated to the specialty. Faced with what was seen as an arbitrary and even discriminatory measure, a shortcut was sought for a pilot experience that, finally, was here to stay. The first two sets of each match included the so-called No-Ad rule: when a game reached 40-40, the concept of a two-point difference was eliminated and only a little more was played, with the receiving couple choosing which side the final kick is taken. A rule that not only significantly shortened the matches but is something that should be installed in the individual events that, in too many cases, have games that, being able to end in a maximum of seven goals, add advantages up to more than twenty points. Furthermore, it was established that, in the event of equality in sets, the match would be defined in a tie-break match, played to reach 10 points, now with a difference of 2.
Although the modifications saved the specialty and did not harm the show in any way, the ATP decided to give a stable course to a pilot test carried out, precisely, in Madrid. It is to ensure 13 places in the doubles for players who also compete in singles. In principle it would be a little less than half of the total picture. The rest will go, by ranking, to the double players.
Worse than that, restrictions such as reducing to 15 seconds the breaks between points in which no more than three strokes are played (they will still be 25 in the others), preventing players from sitting in their chairs after the first set and allowing the public to move freely in the stands during the game. There is little distance between this and telling the double players that they are squatters of the courts.
However, when it comes to involving singles players, among whom are clearly the most popular tennis players, there is some logic. You have to go outside the top 50 of the doubles ranking to find someone who excels in singles (the Russian Andrey Rublev, 51st in the modality and Top Ten in singles).
Then, from that same classification, the last window chosen for today emerges: the age of the protagonists. For some time now there has been talk about the extraordinary evolution that allows the validity of the cracks to have expanded into an age range that was unthinkable a couple of decades ago. It happens in tennis, basketball, artistic gymnastics or soccer. A lot.
However, the doubles circuit is even more notable.
