There is practically a month left for the 69th edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to start, but the tournament is already beginning to take place at the facilities of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona. The extra stands are already being installed and the list of participants has already been defined: Rafa Nadal, as always, heads it. It will be the seventeenth participation of Rafa, who will once again have his biggest rival in Tsitsipas. Last year’s final, between the two, was one of the best remembered in the tournament.
But for Nadal to repeat himself, he must arrive in Barcelona in good condition. Something that is not completely assured, but that for the moment David Ferrer, director of the Godó, doesn’t worry: “I’m calm, really. I think Rafa has time to recover before the gravel tour”. Together with the Balearic tennis player and Tsitsipas they will be also Ruud and Hurkaczthe other two Top-10 of the tournament.
In the long list of participants also highlights Carlos Alcaraz, 16 of the ATP, who already knows what it is to win a Master 500. In Barcelona it will be more complicated (there is a high level) but from the organization they see him ready to win the trophy: “He has options to win. Already in Australia he was among the best, he won a 500… Winning a tournament in this category never comes to him again”, commented Ferrer. Alejandro Davidovich, Pedro Martínez, Pablo Andújar, Roberto Bautista, Pablo Carreño and Albert Ramos complete the list of Spaniards that will be expanded with the qualifying phase and some wildcards.
This edition of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell will be the first after the pandemic in which normality is restored. After a canceled edition (2020) and another with strict limitations (2021) from the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona they hope to recover the splendor of the tournament.