Rafael Nadal dismisses Stefanos Tsitsipas’ ‘stupid’ comment about Barcelona Open
Rafael Nadal has dismissed Stefanos Tsitsipas’ claim that he is the favourite to win the Barcelona Open, saying his performance at the tournament is more about the “experience, a test”.
Having struggled with injury for the past 15 months that resulted in him missing the entire 2023 clay-court season, tennis great Nadal made his long-awaited comeback on the surface on Tuesday as he played his first match on the red dirt in nearly 700 days.
It was a successful return as he brushed aside world No 62 Fabio Cobolli 6-2, 6-3.
Nadal – a 12-time Barcelona Open champion – took his record in the Spanish city to 67-4 and he has failed to reach the semi-finals or better on only three of his 16 appearances.
Despite his lack of playing time over the past year, some believe that Nadal is always the favourite to win any title on clay, including the Barcelona trophy.
Tsitsipas, who won the Monte Carlo Masters on Sunday, is one of those as ahead of Nadal’s return he stated: “I would say that Rafa, regardless of whether he hasn’t played at all or if that’s his first tournament, we all know what Rafa is capable of and how quickly he can adjust to one of his favourite surfaces, which is a clay court.
“I would not be surprised if we saw Rafa be in the finals of Barcelona, because that is something that he has done over and over again for years and years and years.
“What he does have is this competitiveness and this fierce tennis when he gets into the momentum that sometimes feels like on the outside perspective like unstoppable.
“On court, things feel different, because you get the feeling of his ball. When you’re watching, you just get a visual sensation, but I have all six sensations enabled and activated when I have to face him. I think he’s the ultimate challenge on clay.”
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But Nadal sniped back at suggestions that he is the favourite, although he does acknowledge that his history at the tournament makes it easy to draw such a conclusion.
“At the moment it seems stupid to me, realistically. He knows that’s not the case, but I understand that out of respect for what I’ve done at this tournament why he is saying that,” the 22-time Grand Slam winner said.
“As of today everybody knows that I’m not the favourite to try to win a tournament. There is a history behind that I guess that weighs, but today I’m not favourite. I don’t know if I was in this first match, and I know that tomorrow I’m not favourite, but it doesn’t matter either. For me it’s an experience, a test.”
