Rafael Nadal: “Spending days here is already a joy” | ATP Tour

Barcelona

Nadal: “Spending days here is already a joy”

The favorites already know the path to the title in Barcelona

April 13, 2024

Rafael Nadal and Peter Vives, a Spanish actor, were present at the draw for the draw.
By ATPTour.com/es Staff

— Would you dare to name the winner of the tournament?
– Rafael Nadal.

—It’s okay, huh? I had no pressure!
—He was hitting me under the table.

The relaxed conversation between Rafael Nadal and the actor Peter Vives occurred just after the draw for the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell draw, when the actor did not hesitate to pronounce the name of the twelve-time champion as the future winner of this edition in front of the entire audience present.

The former world No. 1 was the representative of the players in the draw, 21 years after doing so for the first time when he debuted in the tournament in 2003. And luck brought him a crossing in the opening round against the Italian Flavio Cobolli .

Nadal, who entered the draw of this ATP 500 on clay, did so thanks to the protected ranking. And, if he goes ahead, he would be the rival of No. 4 seed Alex de Minaur, who is exempt from playing in the first round.

“I am happy to be here, obviously, Barcelona is a place that has given me a lot of joy, where I have spent times of my life,” the Spaniard began, after meeting his first opponent in the tournament. “He [Real Club] “Tennis Barcelona is my club, I am really enjoying being here these days.”

“During the last two years there have been very few days on the circuit, so spending days here, seeing people, being able to train with players is already a joy,” Nadal added. “I want to continue and congratulate David [Ferrer] and the entire organization because they are doing a fabulous job, the tournament has some incredible players and as always the organization is impeccable.”

For his part, the current champion Carlos Alcaraz, who will be the main seed in 2024, will debut against the winner of the match that brings together Luca Van Assche and Zhizhen Zhang. The Murcian could see Stefanos Tsitsipas in a hypothetical quarterfinal, who will debut against Pavel Kotov or Sebastian Ofner.

At the bottom of the draw, Andrey Rublev will advance as the No. 2 seed and will play his first match on Catalan clay against Daniel Evans or Brandon Nakashima. In his own room he is framed with Karen Khachanov, who will open his participation against the winner of the duel between Roberto Bautista Agut or Roman Safiullin.

See Barcelona Open table