Santiago González crowns Mexico in Masters 1000

The association between Santiago González and Edouard Roger-Vasselin took more than 20 years in the making and this 2023 they signed their first title together at the Miami Open.

The first time they met was in the men’s singles second round at Roland Garros 2001. González earned a 6-4, 6-4 victory. Years later, they met in the first round of qualifying for the 2008 US Open, where Roger-Vasselin triumphed. In doubles, their first meetings were in Newport two years later and then in Rome in 2014.

They were colleagues on the Tour, but not close friends. González and Roger-Vasselin, who occupy third place in the ATP ranking, have become one of the best teams in the world. Funny, when last year, neither player would make the cut for the first ATP Masters 1000 event of the year.

You’re not going in, I’m not going in. So [también] we could play together because we have no choice. This is how we really started to get to know each other, to play together,” recalled Roger-Vasselin.

They made the final in Indian Wells. The same thing happened later in the year in Cincinnati and they advanced to the semifinals.

“He’s a great player, so his way of playing on the court and my way of playing get along very well on the court. So, after the good results that [obtuvimos] in Indian Wells and Cincinnati, we beat so many good teams. So we knew we could beat anyone,” González said.

“After that, at the end of the year I was also playing well with [Andres] Molteni. But I was talking to Eddie, we played well together, [dijimos] that maybe we can try next year. We started talking a bit more and then decided to give it a try this year. It’s working fine so far. Hopefully this is just the beginning and we can move on.”

González is 40 and Roger-Vasselin is 39. Both have 43 tour-level men’s doubles titles. How do they keep playing so well deep in their careers?

“Good question! If you asked me that three or four years ago, I’d say by the time I’m 40, I was thinking I’d be done with tennis. But now, the last two years for me, I was playing at a very good level, probably my best level of the last 10 or 15 years”, Santi told the ATP.

“We don’t know and we don’t want to know! I personally like someone who is pretty relaxed on and off the court. I think it’s good also in the long term, it’s good for me to have someone quite relaxed and that’s what I like. Obviously we also need good results, but it’s something that has worked well so far,” said Roger-Vasselin.

deportes@eleconomista.mx