Arevalo makes history for Central America with Roland Garros win

Marcelo Arevalo claimed his own small slice of tennis history on Saturday, as the 31-year-old became the first player from Central America to win a Grand Slam title in any discipline, after he and Jean-Julien Rojer defeated Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-7(4) 7-6(5) 6-3 in the Roland Garros men’s doubles final.

The El Salvadoran, who became Central America’s first Grand Slam finalist by reaching the US Open mixed doubles final in 2021, was delighted with his latest achievement.

“I never thought I could have a chance to be here saying I'm a Grand Slam champion,” Arevalo said afterwards. “But as everyone said, like when you work for your dreams, the dreams come true. Now I'm basically living this right now, and I'm super happy.”  

The fact that he can indeed now call himself a Grand Slam champion means that Arevalo’s career has somewhat come full circle. He was a recipient of Grand Slam Player Development Programme (the GSPDP, formerly known the Grand Slam Development Fund) support earlier in his career, receiving travel grants in 2007 and joining the GSPDP touring team to Europe in 2008.

The GSPDP aims to support talented players from developing tennis nations, providing them with opportunities that they may not otherwise have the resources to access. Rojer, who now represents Netherlands but is from Curacao, was also a member of a GSPDP touring team in 1999.

Already a Wimbledon and US Open men’s doubles champion, Rojer is somewhat used to the emotions that accompany Grand Slam success – although he still stated that “this is one of the best days of my life” in his post-match press conference. For Arevalo, this is all new. And while he was still processing his achievement, he was able to reflect on the impact it might have back at home.

“I come from a country where the conditions are really difficult. A lot of kids, they don't go on the right way,” he said. “So I want to make those kids believe that if you get into sport, not only in tennis, if you get into sport and you work really hard, you can achieve big things.

“If the people from El Salvador are watching this, I want to really encourage them to follow their dreams and fight for them.”

Early indications are that Arevalo’s success will certainly be widely celebrated in his home nation. The honorary president of the National Sports Institute of El Salvador, Yamil Bukele, said on Saturday how proud El Salvadorans would be of one of their biggest stars.

“It is a source of tremendous pride and inspiration to have a Grand Slam champion,” Bukele said. “The world now knows that there is good quality tennis here too. Marcelo still has a long way to go in his career and we are sure that he will go further than he has done so far.”

Saturday certainly belongs to Marcelo, but the older Arevalo brother will also be a name known to tennis fans around the world. Rafael Arevalo is a former player who became the first tennis player from El Salvador to compete at the Olympics, falling to Roger Federer in the second round of the Beijing 2008 Games.

The Arevalo brothers have also been Davis Cup stalwarts for El Salvador over the years, and even though he has now ended his professional career, Rafael remains heavily involved in the sport as president of the El Salvador tennis federation.

A successful and inspirational tennis family indeed – and now one that boasts a Grand Slam champion among their members.