Arevalo & Pavic honoured for 'dream' Year-End No. 1 finish

Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic were celebrated for their Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF finish on Friday afternoon at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The Salvadoran-Croatian team will try to qualify for the season finale later in the evening when they face home favourites Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori. But first they lifted the year-end No. 1 trophy.

Arevalo said: “I want to start with thanking Mate for playing with me and trusting in this team. This is something that we achieved together with a lot of work, a lot of hours on the court and we’re extremely happy. Of course it’s a dream, it’s a goal when you start the season to end your season here in Turin, in the Nitto ATP Finals. Lifting the year-end No. 1, I think it’s a plus.

“I also want to thank my team and Mate’s team. I think even though tennis looks like it’s an individual sport, but I think nobody gets this far alone. In think we all need a team and I want to thank my team… They really care about me. Also my wife, she’s been super supportive traveling with me around the world with two kids, which is not easy.”

Pavic said: “I want to thank Marcelo for a great year. Everybody plays at the start of the year dreaming about this, so to be here, to lift this trophy, obviously that’s why we play the whole year. I want to of course thank my team, my coach, my family back home, also my wife. Everybody is involved in all of that throughout the year. Everybody is a big support. They’re all part of this achievement, of course.”

Arevalo and Pavic formed a new partnership this year and it paid off with four trophies, headlined by their triumph at Roland Garros. They also were victorious at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Cincinnati, Hong Kong and Geneva.