Marcel Granollers

[Ranger]

Granollers Receives Barcelona “Player 10” Award



World No. 26 Marcel Granollers received the "Player 10" award from Manel Serras, President of the APT (Association of Tennis Journalists in Spain) on Sunday. The award is given during the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell each year to the player that demonstrates both strong tennis skills and good human qualities.

"I am very proud and motivated for this sincere recognition, and doubly happy considering the value of the award itself," said Granollers, referring to the sculpture designed and produced by artist and former tennis journalist, Duaita Prats.

Granollers finished runner-up with Marc Lopez in the doubles final of the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court tournament on Sunday.

Źródło: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... Award.aspx

[DUN I LOVE]

Marcel, w parze z Marcem Lopezem, wygrali zawodowy turniej tenisistów na Foro Italico. Dla Granollersa był to już siódmy tytuł wywalczony w deblu, pierwszy z serii Masters-1000.

Tytuły deblowe (7):
2012 (1) ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rzym (w/Lopez)
2011 (1) Auckland (w/Robredo)
2010 (2) Costa Do Sauipe (w/Cuevas), Chennai (w/Ventura)
2009 (3) Moskwa (w/Cuevas), Buenos Aires (w/Martin), Costa Do Sauipe (w/Robredo)

[Ranger]

11.06.2012

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 22

[DUN I LOVE]

Finał w Umag.

Marcel zagrał w swoim piątym zawodowym finale, gdzie poniósł drugą porażkę. Tym razem przegrał w Umag z Marinem Ciliciem.

Marcel Granollers - przegrane finały (2):
2012 - Umag
2010 - Walencja

[Jacuszyn]

16.07.2012

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 20

[Barty]

23.07.2012

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 19

[Jacuszyn]

GRANOLLERS/LOPEZ CLINCH SECOND TITLE OF 2012

Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers won their second title of the season.

Top seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez won their second ATP World Tour title of the season on Sunday as they defeated Colombians Robert Farah and Santiago Giraldo 6-4, 7-6(9) in the final of the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad.

The Spaniards converted two of their nine break points and won 79 per cent of points behind their first serve to clinch victory in one hour and 37 minutes. They earned 250 ATP World Tour ranking points and €19,660 in prize money. They started the week at sixth in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings Race To London.

"I'm very happy to win here with Marc," said Granollers. "We have been fighting to reach such titles for a long time. We played very well this week."

Granollers and Lopez were contesting their second ATP World Tour final in as many weeks and their fifth of the season. They were victorious at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Kubot/Tipsarevic) and finished runners-up at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco (l. to Marrero/Verdasco), the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (l. to Fyrstenberg/Matkowski) and at last week’s ATP Vegeta Croatia Open Umag (l. to Marrero/Verdasco).

The Spaniards now look to carry their strong form into the London 2012 Olympic Games, to be held at Wimbledon next week. Lopez replaced the injured Rafael Nadal in the Spanish team.

"We go there with a lot of confidence after winning here," said Granollers. "However the tournament will be on a completely different surface and we will give our best."

The unseeded Farah/Giraldo had reached their first ATP World Tour final after upsetting second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in the semi-finals.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... unday.aspx

[Joao]

[Sempere]

11.10.2010 (debel)

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 5

[Sempere]

ATP World Tour Uncovered 2012 Granollers Lopez

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Medi ... Lopez.aspx

[Sempere]

Granollers/Lopez Finish Second In Group A; Clinch SF Berth


Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez will play Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen in the se-
mi-finals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Saturday.

Sixth-seeded Spaniards Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez are through to the semi-finals on their debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after defeating seventh seeds Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer 6-4, 6-2 on Saturday evening.

Victory for Granollers and Lopez eliminates three-time former champions and second seeds Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, who were beaten by third seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek earlier in the day.

Granollers and Lopez advanced with a 2-1 record in Group A, having beaten the Bryans at the start of the week before losing to Paes and Stepanek. In Sunday’s semi-finals they will face eighth seeds Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen.

"It will be a tough match," said Granollers. "They've had a great season, especially at Wimbledon. We need to play a great match if we want to win."

Qureshi and Rojer got off to the worst possible start. Both lost their serves, but recovered one break in clinching Lopez’s serve on a sudden death deuce. Granollers, who lost three points in his three service games, closed out the set in 49 minutes with a hold to 30. Qureshi and Rojer had won just four of their second service points.



Qureshi, normally so assured, with good rhytmn and timing on serve, lost two more of his service games in the first and fifth games of the second set, which ended after 30 minutes. Lopez served out to 30, finishing with a forehand driven at Qureshi who hit his volley into the net.

"It was a tough match," said Granollers. "They were playing very well during the whole season and we needed to win and I think we played a great match."

"We tried to play better than in our second match," added Lopez. "We needed to win in order to stay alive, against a team that didn't have anything to play for and that helped us. We are happy to get to the semi-finals."

Granollers and Lopez also beat Qureshi and Rojer at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in April. Victory, at The O2 in London, on Saturday evening, improved their season tally to 38-16.

The pair are the first Spaniards to play in the season-ending doubles championship since Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in 1994. Granollers and Lopez will compete for Spain against the Czech Republic in next week’s Davis Cup final.

"It would be a perfect ending, something incredible [to win the tournament]," said Lopez. "We're enjoying playing on this court against the best teams and it would be amazing."

Qureshi and Rojer finish the week with a 0-3 record in round-robin play. This year’s two-time ATP World Tour titlists finish their season with a 34-25 match record.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... Rojer.aspx

[Sempere]

Granollers/Lopez To Play Indians In London Doubles Final


Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez celebrate reaching the title match on Sunday at the Bar-
clays ATP World Tour Finals.

Sixth seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez set-up a title match against fifth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna on Sunday at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The teams have met once before in May at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.

Granollers and Lopez became the first Spaniards to reach the season-ending championships final since Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez, who were runners up in 1988 and 1990.

Granollers and Lopez defeated eighth seeds Jonathan Marray and Frederik Nielsen 6-4, 6-3 to book a place in Monday evening’s final at The O2 in London. Earlier this year, Marray and Nielsen beat the pair in the Wimbledon first round en route to the Grand Slam championship title.



Playing one-up and one-back, Granollers and Lopez frustrated their net-rushing opponents early on as they hit groundstroke winners. Nielsen lost his serve in the third game, which Lopez survived sudden death deuce for a 5-3 lead. At 5-4, Granollers served at set point, but also break point. Taking his time to serve, he hit an unreturned delivery that clinched the 40-minute set. Marray and Nielsen failed to convert any of their seven break point opportunities.

The Spaniards, who will compete in next week’s Davis Cup maintained their momentum in the second set. Lopez came through another game decided on a sudden death point in the third game. Marray and Nielsen got back on level terms in the sixth game, when Marray hit a backhand return down the line that Lopez could not lunge to and volley cleanly.

In the next game, Marray let slip a 40/0 lead, losing four straight points. Granollers fired a forehand return down the line, which Marray scrambled up. Nielsen went to cover his partner, leaving half of the court exposed. Granollers whipped a forehand crosscourt into space. At 3-5, 15/30 Nielsen double-faulted to gift the Spaniards three match points. He saved one, but the Spaniards were not to be denied, completing a memorable win in 78 minutes.



Granollers and Lopez are now one match win shy of 40 victories in 2012. They won titles in Rome (d. Kubot-Marach) and at the Crédit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad (d. Farah-Giraldo) from five finals.

Marray was the first native-born Briton to play doubles in the year-end championship. South African-born Neil Broad, who played in 1990 and 1996, was member of the British Davis Cup team in 1991. Nielsen, who will concentrate on his singles career in 2013, was the first Dane to qualify for the prestigious tournament.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... Lopez.aspx

[Sempere]

Granollers/Lopez Win Biggest Title Of Their Careers In London


Marc Lopez and Marcel Granollers celebrate clinching the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
doubles trophy on Monday night at The O2 in London.

Sixth seeds Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez became the second Spanish team to win the season-ending championships on Monday when they defeated fifth-seeded Indians Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna 7-5, 3-6, 10-3 for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals title at The O2 in London.

ATP Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett presented Granollers and Lopez the doubles trophy. Ashok Vaswani, the Chief Executive of Barclays Retail and Business Banking, also offered the pair his congratulations after they won their third title of the year.

“We finished here winning the title, so it's incredible for us,” said Granollers. “We try to play as best as we can always. I think we have very good relationship. So, I think, that's one of the key of our success.



I'd like to congratulate Mahesh and Rohan for their year. They played a great tournament. Good luck next season. Marc is one of my best friends. To win here with him is very special. Thanks to the ATP for a great tournament and to Barclays for supporting our sport."

The only other Spanish duo to win the championship are Juan Gisbert Sr. and Manuel Orantes in 1975 at Stockholm, when they captured the title with the best round robin record.

The pair, who will compete for Spain in next week’s Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic, recorded their 40th match win of the season (40-16 overall) in 90 minutes. They are now 3-4 in tour-level finals this year, having teamed up in February.



Granollers and Lopez, playing one-up and one-back to great effect, took a 2-1 lead in the first set, after Granollers hit three successive forehands at Bopanna, who hit a backhand volley into the net on the deciding point. However, Lopez was broken in the next game. At 5-5, Bhupathi mis-placed two serves to fall to 0/30. The 38-year-old Bhupathi made two further backhand volley errors, off Granollers forehands. Serving for the set, Lopez faced sudden death deuce and break point, but Granollers intercepted a backhand volley to clinch the opener in 43 minutes. The Spaniards had won 23 of their 34 service points.

Midway through the second set, at 3-4, the Indians set up two break point chances at 30/40. Lopez centred play on Bhupathi, less flashier and powerful than Bopanna, to recoup one point, but on the deciding point Granollers committed a forehand error. Bopanna then coolly closed out to 30 with the team’s fifth ace of the set, which lasted 35 minutes. Bhupathi and Bopanna had won 76 per cent of their first service points.



Clever inter-play and defence by Granollers and Lopez gave them a 4-0 lead in the Match tie-break, which saw Bhupathi and Bopanna guilty of not putting away their volleys and rushing into their strokes. Having won six of the first seven points, Granollers and Lopez weathered a Bhupathi grounstroke blitz. At 9-3, with Lopez serving, Bhupathi put a forehand volley long. Granollers and Lopez ran to one another in celebration after capturing the biggest title of their careers.

Granollers and Lopez were the first Spanish duo to play at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals since Sergio Casal and Emilio Sanchez in 1994. Casal-Sanchez finished as runners up in 1988 and 1990.

“It’s always tough playing them,” said Bhupathi. “They're not a conventional doubles team. They make it very, very difficult in more ways than one, no matter who they play. We were expecting that. We fought hard to stay in the match. [We] got ourselves again into a Match tie-break. This time I think we just played a bad tie-break. That sums it up.

Bopanna, who will be getting married in 10 days time, added, “They’re not just serve and volley players, traditional doubles players. They mix a lot. They stay back. They serve and stay back. They cross a lot. They hit different kinds of shots, which it's very tough. You're not sure whether they're going to come in or cross.” He will be playing with Rajeev Ram next season.



Bhupathi and Bopanna end their partnership with a 34-22 season record. Last week, they won their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris (d. Qureshi-Rojer) and played with confidence throughout the week in the English capital. Bhupathi, who was making his 12th appearance, has now finished as runner-up on five occasions – in 1997, 1999-2000 with Leander Paes and with Max Mirnyi in 2010.

When looking back on their partnership, Bhupathi said, "There were times in the year where the pundits of Indian tennis threw us under the bus, said that 'we're not good enough', said that, 'these guys are jokers', in a diplomatic way. But we believed in ourselves. We reached three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals, won one Masters 1000 title and finished runners up here. We've beaten all the top teams there are to beat. We came through with flying colours, which I think is credit to us at the end of the day."

The 2012 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which lasted eight days, was watched by a record 263,229 spectators at The O2.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... Lopez.aspx

[Sempere]

Marcel Granollers & Marc Lopez Interview - Davis Cup Finals Day 2

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJtVG28bRwo&feature=plcp[/youtube]

[Joao]

2012 w liczbach

Ranking: 33
Bilans meczów: 23-23 (50,0 %)
Łączna liczba spotkań: 46
Tytuły: 0
Finały: 1 (Umag)
Zarobki: $1,093,338

[Sempere]

2012 w liczbach (debel)

Ranking: 10
Bilans meczów: 43-22 (66,2 %)
Łączna liczba spotkań: 65
Tytuły: 4 (Turniej Mistrzów, Gstaad, Rzym, Indian Wells)
Finały: 3 (Toronto, Umag, Barcelona, Acapulco)

[Sempere]

25.02.2013 (debel)

Najwyższy ranking w karierze: 4

[Sempere]

Rome 2013 Wednesday Interview Granollers

[Sempere]

Granollers On His “Double Career”


Marcel Granollers' success in doubles with Marc Lopez has helped him reach greater heights in singles.

Marcel Granollers is enjoying the best form of his career. This week, he reached the quarter-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to Paire), but he doesn’t just excel in singles. The Spaniard is the doubles World No. 4 and together with countryman Marc Lopez, is the reigning Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champion.

The 27-year-old Granollers is the only Spanish-speaking player to feature in the Top 40 of the Emirates ATP Rankings in both singles and doubles. The World No. 37 explains that his success in doubles has helped propel him to even greater heights in singles.

“Doubles has helped me to have good results in singles, especially in the beginning when singles wasn’t going so well for me,” Granollers tells http://www.ATPWorldTour.com. “Playing doubles at a high level, winning matches, gives you confidence and luckily it’s helped me in singles over the past few years. The idea is to have good results in both.”

Which does he prefer, though? “I see myself more as a singles player than doubles, but I like doubles a lot,” says Granollers. “Singles is my priority, but now with Marc, things are going well and we’d like to keep it going.”

Granollers’ success has led other players to invest more in their doubles games. Fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, who reached a career-high World No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Rankings four years ago, has advanced to four ATP World Tour doubles semi-finals this year with compatriot David Marrero, including at ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in Monte-Carlo and Madrid. The pair won four titles together last year.

“It’s good to see other singles players do well in doubles,” says Granollers. “For example, Fernando is a great singles player and now he’s doing very well in doubles too. He and David are striving to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and this is very good for tennis.”

Now used to the physical demands of competing in both singles and doubles at the same tournament, with little chance to rest, Granollers explains the pros and cons of his “double career”.

“The bad side is that sometimes doubles can last a long time and the next day you feel tired. Doubles isn’t as demanding as singles, but it means you’re spending more time on court.

“But I hope I always have this problem, playing doubles one day and singles the next, because it means you’re winning and that’s the most important thing.”

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... areer.aspx

[Sempere]

Marcel Granollers: Double The Fun


Marcel Granollers is currently ranked a career-high
No. 4 in doubles.

Less is not more for Marcel Granollers. Week in and week out, the Spaniard can be found on both the singles and doubles courts, and has proven that a player can successfully juggle both disciplines.

In 2012, Granollers not only broke into the Top 20 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, but he also finished at No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings after hoisting the trophy at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with countryman Marc Lopez. This season, his highlights include the singles quarter-finals in Rome, the doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open and quarter-finals at Roland Garros.

As part of Compeed’s Form & Fitness series, Granollers shares why playing both singles and doubles is beneficial to his game and what he considers to be the most important part of his training program.

You play singles and doubles in almost every event. How are you able to balance this?
I've been playing singles and doubles for a long time, both are very important for me. Obviously it has good and bad things. Sometimes doubles makes me be tired for singles, but it's always a main goal to have good results in both disciplines.

What have you learned from playing doubles regularly that has helped you improve in singles?
I think there are great things in doubles like return of service and your net game. You can improve a lot in these areas.

How are you able to translate your singles game into success in doubles, especially against the top teams with your hitting from the baseline?
Marc [Lopez] and I play different than them, we like to play more from the baseline. The top teams usally play serve and volley and we try counter that from the baseline.

Do you practise or prepare differently for a doubles match than a singles match?
No, I only practise for singles matches. Maybe if some one day I lose my singles, I sometimes do something with Marc, but I don't think we do something special for doubles.

In singles, clay has been your best surface but also you've had good results on hard-courts. What have you worked on in order to be an all-court player?
I like to play on all surfaces. I feel comfortable on clay and hard courts. I don't dislike grass either, but I play less there because there are few tournaments. I grew up playing on clay but I can adapt my game to every surface.

You finished Top 50 for the third straight year in 2012, which area of fitness has helped you the most to achieve this and why?
It's important to stay without injuries in order to play all the year. To have few injuries has helped me a lot and allowed me to work day by day. Physically I like to do a lot. I like to run, to work at the gym and work on my balance on court.

What exercise or stretch would you recommend a recreational player to add into their training program?
I like to work a lot on court. It's the most realistic work you can get to prepare for a match. It's helped me a lot.

Which player on tour do you think…
Is the most flexible? Gael Monfils
Has the best footwork? Rafael Nadal
Has the most endurance? David Ferrer
Is the quickest? Novak Djokovic
Has the best balance? Novak Djokovic
Is the strongest? Rafael Nadal.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Form-A ... ubles.aspx