Carlos Alcaraz has also given up on Conde de Godó and there will be no meeting with Rafael Nadal upon his return to the ATP circuit

The 71st edition of the traditional Conde de Godó, the ATP in Barcelona, ​​will begin this Monday with the news of the recovery of its king and twelve-time champion, the Majorcan Rafael Nadalbut finally he won’t be able to count on the Spanish as well Carlos Alcarazwinner of the last two editions, but who did not have a good feeling in the weekend’s training and chose to withdraw, as the discomfort in his right arm persisted and prevented him from playing Monte Carlo Masters 1000.

The number 3 in the world ranking should have made his debut next Wednesday against the winner of the match between the young French talent Luca Van Assche or the Chinese Zhizhen Zhang. Now their place in the draw will be filled by a “lucky loser” from the qualifying round.

The draw had prevented Godó from experiencing the dream final between Nadal, in what will probably be his last season, and Alcaraz, given that both were on the same side of the draw and could only meet in the semifinals.

With Murcian’s defeat, 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 hasn’t played an official match for three and a half months since losing in the third round in Brisbane against the English Jordan Thompsonhe has been training in the Catalan capital since Wednesday with excellent sensations.

The abdominal discomfort that prevented him from performing the serve normally seems to have eased and, at 37, he could play the ‘last dance’ of his club’s tournament, which will begin on Tuesday against the Azzurri. Flavio Colbolli (ATP Number 63).

If he manages to overcome him, a tough nut to crack like the Australian will await him in the round of 16. Alex de Minaur, eleventh player in the world ranking and quarter-finalist in Monte Carlo. And his hypothetical quarter-final match could be with 19-year-old Frenchman Arthur Fils (36).

With Alcaraz out of the picture, the hypothetical rival in the semifinals of the 13-time Ronald Garros champion could be the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipastwelfth to play in the ATP and three times finalist in Barcelona.

On this occasion, Tsitsipas could also arrive as a champion of Monte Carlo, where on Sunday he will play the final against another tennis player who will compete next week in the Catalan capital, the Norwegian Casper Ruud.

The lower part of the ranking seems, a priori, less complicated, but it still has two “top ten” like the Russian one Andrei 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 Barcelona’s always dangerous rivals such as the Russian Karen Khachanov (17) or the English Cameron Norrie (30).

Furthermore, this 71st edition of Godó, which coincides with the 125th anniversary of the RCT Barcelona-1899, will see the participation of Argentina Sebastiano Baezone of the great sensations of the year on the South American dirt tour.

And at 23, Báez reached No. 19 on the ATP, the best ranking of his career, thanks to victories in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile, as well as the semifinal in Cordoba and the quarterfinal in Buenos Aires.

A true clay court specialist who has played only once in Barcelona, ​​​​in the 2022 edition, losing 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 finally not be there Kei Nishikoritwo-time champion of the tournament and a tennis player much loved by the Barcelona public, who also withdrew due to injury in the last few hours.