Marcelo's Magic: Arevalo's unlikely ascent to doubles stardom

In the second round of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, top seed Roger Federer played an opponent, Rafael Arevalo, who had never cracked the Top 400 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The 22-year-old from El Salvador, not known for its tennis history, would never climb higher than World No. 374.

But that match proved a launching pad for the standout career of another Salvadoran: Rafael’s younger brother, Marcelo Arevalo, who will partner Mate Pavic in the Cincinnati Open final on Monday against Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen.

“It was like a dream because my brother was at home, and then a few days later, I was watching my brother on TV against Federer, who at that point was dominating everybody. He still was number one in the world. It was crazy,” Arevalo told ATPTour.com. “Seeing my brother playing against Federer, and coming from the same house, the same family, that's when it kind of hit me, and I said, ‘You know what, I can also become good. If my brother is there, then I can be like my brother’. And that's when I actually started taking tennis more seriously.”

Tennis was a family affair for the Arevalo's. They belonged to a beach club in their hometown of Sonsonate, which had two hard tennis courts.

“I was always [playing] against the wall. I was always with my racquet and one tennis ball and playing on the wall. And then my dad, after a long day, he would play with me,” Arevalo said. “It was crazy, because most of the people would go to the beach club to spend time at the beach. [They would] go to the beach and just be in front of the beach, jump in the water, come back, jump in the water again when they get hot, whatever. But we were spending basically the whole Saturday or Sunday at the tennis court, which was on the opposite side of the beach.”

Marcelo was inspired by his brother, who is four years older than him. Rafael would travel to different countries to represent El Salvador as a junior.

“Being the younger brother, I was like, ‘Wow, my brother is representing the country, playing in Guatemala or in Honduras, or Nicaragua, or Costa Rica’. So I kind of got into that world also because of him,” Arevalo said. “I wanted, as a younger brother, to be like my older brother, and he was my idol back in the day. I would say he was the reason that I got into the sport.”

Shortly after Rafael played Federer at the Beijing Olympics, Marcelo, then 18, moved to the capital of El Salvador and began homeschooling so he could train four or five hours per day. He reached a career-high No. 8 in the juniors.

“At the end of the day, you’re still a kid, and then you kind of do whatever your parents or your family push you to or guide you [to do],” Arevalo said. “And I was lucky enough that my family was always supportive and let me follow my dreams.”

After playing some ITF World Tennis Tour events as a teen, Arevalo played college tennis at the University of Tulsa, where he was named Conference USA Player of the Year as a sophomore.

The Salvadoran embarked on a professional career in singles, winning three ATP Challenger Tour titles and reaching No. 139 in the PIF ATP Rankings. But his greatest success has come as a doubles standout.

Arevalo went more than three years without a trophy after winning his first ATP Tour title in 2018 with Miguel Reyes-Varela in Los Cabos. But since partnering Jean-Julien Rojer in 2022, he has become one of the very best doubles players in the world.

The former college tennis player won seven titles with the Dutchman across two seasons (2022-23) and qualified for the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. That season, the pair won Roland Garros, making Arevalo the first Central American Grand Slam champion.

“I feel it’s still not normal and I think that’s something that I would love to keep that way, because I feel like whenever I win something, it doesn't matter if it's something big or small,” Arevalo said. “I still feel the same joy from years ago when I won my first ATP 250 back in 2018. In that moment, it was probably the biggest achievement of my career. But nowadays, for example, after I won Hong Kong at the beginning of the year, I felt that same happiness, the same joy, and that's something that I really like about myself, because I try to enjoy the moment.

“It doesn't matter if you are on the top or on the bottom, a win is a win, I always think that way. And of course, you’ve got to be grateful when you win big things, big titles like Grand Slams or ATP Masters 1000s. But you always have to also accept, or be aware, that those titles might not come that often.”

Arevalo has not had to worry about that this year. The Salvadoran has formed a fruitful partnership with Croatian Mate Pavic. They triumphed at Roland Garros and are second in the PIF ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, well on their way to Nitto ATP Finals qualification.

The 33-year-old has come a long way in the 16 years since he watched his brother play Federer on television.

“It's amazing. I feel like it’s a whole family dream, a whole family achievement. I think everyone [put in] effort for me to be where I am right now, in terms of dedicating time, investing money,” Arevalo said. “I remember my parents instead of going for vacation would not go because they needed to pay for our tennis travels, send us to tournaments or sometimes for a week to an academy, to try to play with better kids. So it was a whole family effort.

“At the end of the day, maybe I'm the one representing my family in this whole dream, but I see it as a whole family effort, a dream come true.”