On Saturday, Rafael Nadal suffered a shock defeat to Fabio Fognini at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. There is no rest for the weary. The Spaniard is right back to work next week at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and is set to face a tricky path from the start.
If Nadal is to lift his 12th trophy in Barcelona, he will have earned it. He finds himself in a loaded half of the draw, with a potential path to the final that includes 15th seed Lucas Pouille, 2018 finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and 2017 runner-up Dominic Thiem.
Nadal, who opens against either Marius Copil or Leonardo Mayer on the familiar clay-courts of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona, could face Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals and Thiem in the semis. He defeated the Greek in straight sets in last year's final, with the Austrian enduring the same fate in the 2017 championship.
Former World No. 3 and longtime rival David Ferrer could square off with Nadal for one last time, with a third-round encounter in the cards. Ferrer, who is playing in the penultimate tournament of his professional career, reached the final four times (2008-09 & 2011-12), falling to his countryman on each occasion. He opens against Mischa Zverev, with Pouille looming in the second round.
Meanwhile, Thiem should not look too far ahead in the draw, with sixth seed Karen Khachanov, #NextGenATP star Frances Tiafoe and home hope Pablo Carreno Busta all residing in his quarter. The third seed will face either Yoshihito Nishioka or Hyeon Chung in his opener. Chung is competing in his first tournament in two months in his recovery from a back injury.
In the bottom half of the draw, second seed Alexander Zverev leads the charge with two former champions posing a threat. Fourth seed and 2014-15 winner Kei Nishikori opens against either Taylor Fritz or Reilly Opelka, with 2010 titlist Fernando Verdasco battling fellow Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez. They will meet for the 11th time in their 15-year FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry (tied 5-5).
Nishikori's quarter is loaded with #NextGenATP stars, with Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime joining wild card Nicola Kuhn. At the age of 18, Auger-Aliassime is seeded at an ATP Tour event for the first time.The rain in Spain may mainly fall on the plain but the reign of Spain when it comes to the Barcelona Open is equally centralized.
The next stop during the clay-court portion of the ATP Tour, Spain’s second-largest men’s tennis event after the Madrid Open, has been dominated by Spaniards.Since 1997, there’s been just one Barcelona Open men’s singles final that hasn’t featured at least one Spanish player. That was in 2014, when Nishikori defeated Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-2 for the title.
In that span of time, there have been nine all-Spanish finals – Albert Costa, currently the tournament director, over Albert Portas in 1997, Juan Carlos Ferrero over Carlos Moya in 2001, Nadal over Ferrero in 2005, and Nadal over Robredo in 2006.Until he faced Fognino, he hadn’t dropped a set, even rallying from a 5-1 deficit to win this first set of his quarterfinal match with Argentina’s Guido Pella 7-6(7-1).
Nadal’s winning streak of 18 straight matches and 25 consecutive sets at Monte-Carlo also was brought to a halt. He played in 12 finals and won a record 11 titles there.
At Barcelona, Nadal owns tournament records for wins (11) and matches won (58).
Can Kei Be The Guy?
Nishikori has enjoyed a good run of success in Barcelona. He followed up his consecutive titles with a 6-4, 7-5 loss to the Nadal in the 2016 final.
The Japanese star entered the 2017 tournament as the no. 2 seed but was forced to withdraw with a wrist injury. Nishikori retired from his 2018 second-round match with Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez after suffering a right calf injury.The Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, an ATP 500 tournament, has been held at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the oldest Spanish tennis club, since 1953. Fourteen of the past 16 editions have been won by Spaniards: Rafael Nadal (2005-09, 2011-13, 2016-18), Carlos Moya (2003), Tommy Robredo (2004) and Fernando Verdasco (2010). Japan's Kei Nishikori won back-to-back titles in 2014-15.
Nadal will look to win the Trofeo Conde de Godo for a 12th time in 2019, and will be joined in the field by Nishikori and former finalists Dominic Thiem and Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Here's all you need to know about Barcelona tennis tournament: when is the draw, what is the schedule, where to watch, who won and more.
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