Horacio Zeballos/Marcel Granollers to the third round: “We must highlight the head we had today to win it”

“We could have closed it in two sets, it got away from us, but we have talked and I think the important thing is that we remain focused on our game and we got a very good victory after how that set had gone.” This is how the dialogue opened Marcel Granollersthat with his partner Horace Zeballos spoke exclusively with Profile minutes after obtaining his pass to the third round of Wimbledon.

There the Argentine took the floor and recounted the moments lived when they found themselves up 7-6(1) 5-3 and served to close the match, but they lost the set 7-6(6) with a remarkable comeback from the French Arthur Fils and Luca Van Assche, who played everything without having anything to lose. About that crucial moment he said “Onion”: “Obviously we were hot for losing the second set and then Marcel told me that I am at full speed to win it in the third, I was also the same, we are better doubles players, if we continue with this level I think we are going to have chances and we won it, I told him , so it was. That is what needs to be rescued from today, regardless of whether there was a mistake in any play or if we had the ball to win the match point and we didn’t define it, I think what needs to be highlighted is the head we had to It was great, on a full court, in an important second round against two good players, we kept going, regardless of the opportunities we had and that’s fabulous. Obviously one wants to win 7-6 6-1 and leave, but doing it this way when one was very high up is even better, more remarkable.”.

It is true that the match was a test of mental resistance for the Argentine-Iberian couple, since in the third set they were one point from victory (5-3 and 0-40 with the serve of their rivals) and had to overcome a new rise of the French that forced Granollers to close it with his service. Zeballos especially appreciated the attitude of his partner “To go back to serve for the game and get 40-0 in ten seconds, it’s fantastic, it speaks to you of the level of commitment and experience we have after so many years and so many games that we’ve played like this.”

Once the match had been analyzed, he went on to the other comparison between the doubles game that takes place on grass and the one played on surfaces. Regarding Horace himself, he assured that: “Nowadays, he paired up a lot. In all of them there are good servers and few balls are passed. Perhaps on brick dust there are some other points, but later on concrete, indoors, on grass it’s all very fast and clearly it’s trying to make a lot of serves with a slice (with a cut effect) or to the body and that the partner is in the medium because before a serve at 215 km/h it is very difficult to choose between throwing it parallel or crossed, so there is a very central game, in which you have to serve hard. It is difficult to get to connect the return, but if you can do it, win the point it is 50 and 50 and you have more possibilities”.

at wimbledon, the match pitches are different from the training pitches, not only because they are different but particularly because the ground is in a different condition and that forces the players to adapt quickly. This had already been entrusted to us Francisco Cerundolo. Now Marcel and Horace This is how they ratify it: “The idea would be to play on the same pitches but the training pitches are more worn out, the ground is harder and harder, the ball bounces more and more upwards and those of the games that still have more grass, slip and slide a lot more. You have to adapt, but it is achieved quickly with the games. What influences the most is confidence, the head and then getting used to the pique ”.

Their rivals in the next instance will emerge from tomorrow’s clash between Dodig-Kracijek, second seed and reigning champions of Roland Garros, and Galloway-Harris.

After the talk with the protagonists, we also spoke exclusively with Alejandro Lombardo, experienced player trainer and coach of Horace Zeballos since many years.

These are the most outstanding concepts of the conversation:

“The happy ones for the start of the third set and how they kept up their heads to close it against two youngsters who play very well and have nothing to lose.” The coach told us.

How do you handle bonding in doubles with the other player whose coach you are not and that other player’s team? Because you are Horacio’s coach but sometimes you give Marcel suggestions. “They have been playing together for many years and what I did from the beginning was to gather information from him, not being his coach, but his brother, but we are a team and just as I was able to say something to Marcel at some point, His brother can say something to Horacio and it doesn’t matter. That’s what it’s all about… It’s teamwork but above all respecting what he needs and what works for him, and I have the freedom to say what I see and what can help him. I think he is very good ”.

“With two players like them who have so much experience and have played Grand Slam and Masters 1000 finals, it is a shared job, there is a lot of their opinion in the preview, what do they see, how do they imagine the match, and then you enter the conversation with your own ideas and share them with the player. It is not the same when you have a 36, ​​37-year-old player, than when you have a 20-year-old, who needs more information and it goes more to one side, than at this stage in which they are, which is something more shared . Many times the coach follows the player”.

Later we talked about the episode of davidovich fokina in that near the end of the match with Rune pulled out from below. Pará Lombardo “In tennis, confidence is everything, and you can only win matches and endure and go through extreme situations like the one that Davidovich Fokina had to experience yesterday, which went wrong. It’s very easy to speak from the stands but you have to be there, that’s why so few show up. I hope it works for you. Surely it will serve you, because that’s what it’s all about. In highly competitive sport there is a lot of pressure. It seems that boys cannot be wrong and in life we ​​all make mistakes. The coach must bench the player and he must feel that support in all circumstances”.

Finally, taking into account the long career of Horace Zeballos (38 years old), we consulted him about what they are considering today and in the future. “He always needs motivation. On a day-to-day basis, in the short, medium and long term. That’s why he told me, I want the rematch of the US Open final against Cabal and Farah and he takes it as motivation and that’s why you support him and push him that way, because he sees that it’s not a pressure. I started with him in 2008, he was 23 years old and ranked 350 in the world in singles, he kept fighting and sometimes the reward comes, both for players and coaches, although other times not, and that hurts. You have to see the fire that the player has inside and the coach is the one who accompanies ”.

Thus concluded this rich dialogue with someone who has covered countless kilometers in life and the world of tennis, on and off the court.

Daniel Álvarez, from London (@chipandchargear)