The 71st edition of the traditional Conde de Godó, the Barcelona ATP, will begin this Monday with the news of recovering its king and twelve-time champion, the Mallorcan Rafael Nadalbut finally he will not be able to count on the also Spanish Carlos Alcarazwinner of the last two editions, but who did not have a good feeling in his training sessions over the weekend and chose to withdraw, as the discomfort in his right arm persisted and prevented him from playing in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000.
The number 3 in the world ranking was scheduled to debut next Wednesday against the winner of the match between the young French talent Luca Van Assche or the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang. Now, his place in the draw will be occupied by a ‘lucky loser’ from the qualifying round.
Photo: AP / Bernat Armangue, File
The draw had prevented Godó from being able to experience the dream final between Nadal, in what will probably be his last season, and Alcaraz, since both were on the same side of the draw, and could only meet in the semifinals.
With the loss of the Murcian, they will not meet in a possible penultimate round, a duel highly anticipated by the public after the spectacular exhibition match that both played in Las Vegas last March.
Rafa Nadal, who has not played an official match in three and a half months since he lost in the third round of Brisbane against the British Jordan Thompsonhas been training in the Catalan capital since Wednesday with very good feelings.
The abdominal discomfort that prevented him from executing his serve normally seems to have subsided and, at 37 years old, he could play the ‘last dance’ in his club’s tournament, which will begin this Tuesday against the Italian Flavio Colbolli (ATP number 63).
If he overcomes it, a tough nut to crack awaits him in the round of 16 like the Australian. Alex de Miñaur, eleventh player in the world ranking and quarterfinalist in Monte Carlo. And his hypothetical quarter-final meeting could be with the 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils (36).
With Alcaraz out of the game, the hypothetical rival in the semifinals of the 13-time champion of Ronald Garros could be the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipastwelfth to play in the ATP and three-time finalist in Barcelona.
On this occasion, Tsitsipas could also arrive as champion of Monte Carlo, where this Sunday he will play the final against another tennis player who will be competing next week in the Catalan capital, the Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Stefanos Tsitsipas. Photo: Valery HACHE / AFP
The lower part of the table seems, a priori, less complicated, but it still has two ‘top-ten’ like the Russian Andrey Rublev (6) and the aforementioned Ruud (10).
If the predictions established by the ranking come true, Rublev and Ruud should fight for a place in the final, with the permission of always dangerous rivals in Barcelona like the Russian Karen Khachanov (17) or the British Cameron Norrie (30).
Sebastian Baez. Photo: EFE/ Osvaldo Villarroel
Furthermore, this 71st edition of the Godó, which coincides with the 125th anniversary of the RCT Barcelona-1899, will feature the participation of the Argentine Sebastian Baezone of the great sensations of the year on the South American dirt tour.
And at 23 years old, Báez reached number 19 in the ATP – the best ranking of his career – thanks to his victories in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile, in addition to making the semifinals in Córdoba and the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires. Aires.
A real clay specialist who only played once in Barcelona, in the 2022 edition, and lost in the first round to the Italian Lorenzo Musetti.
Among the invitations that the organization has extended this year, those of two illustrious members of the ‘Armada’ such as Roberto Bautista and Albert Ramos stand out.
However, the Japanese will not finally be there Kei Nishikoritwo-time champion of the tournament and a tennis player much loved by the Barcelona public, who also dropped out due to injury in the last few hours.
2024-04-14 13:13:09
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