PARIS – Argentine Horacio Zeballos’ recipe for reaching his first doubles final at Roland Garros is to fantasise about the Davis Cup.
“I’ll be honest — in the semis, when the crowd was cheering for our opponents and you could hear the roars from the stands, I tried to imagine I was playing Davis Cup. That’s when the lion inside me comes out. I feel like I’m representing Argentina and I give it everything I’ve got. ‘Davis Cup attitude, Davis Cup attitude,’ I kept telling myself,” he told CLAY and RG Media in Paris.
The left-hander, playing alongside Spaniard Marcel Granollers, had failed three times before. They had lost in the semifinals in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Zeballos admitted that it had been playing on his mind.
After defeating France’s Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Monaco’s Hugo Nys, Zeballos told CLAY about the mental work they’ve done to reach a long-awaited goal.
“We’ve been doing some serious psychological work to try to cope with this kind of pressure. If you’d told me I’d only reach semi-finals for the rest of my career, I’d have signed off on that. But after the second, third time, you start wanting a little more. That ends up working against you — it becomes an extra weight that demands huge mental effort and a lot of teamwork,” admitted the world No. 11 in doubles.
Returning to Argentina’s Davis Cup team has also brought him relief. Being able to represent his country again gave him a sense of renewal. Captain Javier Frana selected him in February for the tie against Norway, after Zeballos had been left out of previous series — and the Paris 2024 Olympic Games — even while ranked No. 1 in the world.
“Representing Argentina is something really special, isn’t it? This year I had a blast when I got to return to the team and was given a place. Not just as a player, but also as a kind of adviser — a more experienced voice who’s been through several ties. The guys were very open to hearing my thoughts. It was a very emotional experience,” he said.
How will the Argentine and the Spaniard prepare for their first final on the clay of Paris? Two key things: the first is to enjoy a milestone moment in their careers. The second is to “truly believe” in themselves and be convinced they can finally win their first Grand Slam.
