The Barcelona Open 2018
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5 of the best players in the World will be present at Barcelona Open 2018. The Spaniard Rafael Nadal, second player in the world ranking, the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (4), the Belgian David Goffin (7), the Austrian Dominic Thiem and the South African Kevin Anderson (9) lead the Barcelona Open BancSabadell-Trofeo Conde de Godó, which will be held in the facilities of the RCT Barcelona-1899, from 21 to 29 April.

The tournament, which was presented on Tuesday at the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Hall, will therefore have five players among the top ten of the ATP ranking and another three installed in the top-20 of the professional circuit: the Spaniards Pablo Carreño (14) and Roberto Bautista (16) and the Argentine Diego Schwartzman (17).

Albert Costa, sporting director of the Barcelona Open BancSabadell, has been “proud” of the cast of players who have been able to gather this year. “We are very happy, because we have five fantastic top-tens.” In addition to Nadal, the main attraction of the tournament, there is also Dimitrov, last year’s Masters champion, Thiem, finalist in Barcelona last year and a great player on the ground. Goffin, also finalist of the Masters, and Anderson, who has been finalist of the US Open, “he said.

The Godó also recovers the Japanese Kei Nishikori, champion of the tournament in 2014 and 2015, finalist in 2016 and who could not dispute it last year due to a wrist injury. “It’s good news, because Kei is a very dear player here, when he plays, the stands of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona are filled with Japanese flags and I think that is also good for the international promotion of the tournament,” said Costa.

As for the other components of the ‘Armada’ the former champion of Roland Garros has stressed that, in this edition, the tournament will have “all the Spanish players who are among the top one hundred.” They complete, therefore, the list of registered national tennis players Albert Ramos, Feliciano Lopez, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Guillermo García-López and Roberto Carballés.

The new generations of tennis at Barcelona Open 2018

Alberto Costa has also stressed that in this Barcelona Open BancSabadell will be able to see some members of the so-called ‘Next Gen’, the new generation of tennis players of the ATP. “We will have players like Andrey Rublev, Hyeon Chung or Karen Khachanov, who are called to be among the top ten in the circuit in the future,” he said.

The president of the RCT Barcelona-1899, Albert Agustí, explained that this year the tournament will honor Toni Nadal, who has been Rafael Nadal’s coach until last season and who has stopped preparing his nephew to devote himself to training young values ​​in the academy that number 2 of the world ranking has in Mallorca.

Agustí has ​​also confirmed that the tournament will be added, for the first time in its history, to the fashion of the ‘e-sports’ and that 256 will face in a video game of tennis whose final phase will be played during the Godó.

“I think that, with the Millennials generation, the e-sports have come to stay, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the final of this tournament will be played in the ‘Fan Corner’ during the Godó and will be broadcast by television, “said the president of the RCT Barcelona.

Ada Colau, Mayor Barcelona, ​​has been in charge of closing the presentation of the tournament, remembering what the organization of this event means for the Catalan capital. “It is a source of pride for Barcelona that a tournament of this category (ATP 500) is organized by a club in the city, this is not done with money nor is it a franchise, but comes from the fabric of the city itself,” sentenced.