Reigning champion Rafael Nadal is the first confirmed for the next edition of the Barcelona Open Sabadell from 20 to 28 April 2019.
Nadal will take part at the Barcelona Open for the 15th time in his career and will be bidding to win this prestigious tournament for the 12th time.
Nadal was forced to retire from the US Open semifinal against Juan Martin Del Potro due to injury and has not played since then.
The current world number 2 lived up once again as the “King of Clay” with record 11th titles in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros. The Mallorcan player also won the Internazionali d’Italia in Rome for the 8th time in his career beating Alexander Zverev in a three-set final clinching the 78th career title and his 32th Masters 1000 title. He dropped just one set en route to his 11th triumph at the French Open, where he beat Dominic Thiem in a three-set final.
During the summer he showed good form on other surfaces reaching the semifinal at Wimbledon on grass and won his first Masters 1000 title on hard-court since 2013 beating Stefanos Tsitsipas i6-2 6-1 n the final.
At the US Open he beat Dominic Thiem in an epic quarter final by the scoreline of 0-6 6-4 7-5 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-5) in a match which ended at 2 am local time. Unfortunately Nadal withdrew from the semifinal match against Juan Martin Del Potro due to a knee injury after losing the second set.
Nadal won 58 matches and lost just three matches in Barcelona in 2003, when he was beaten by Alex Corretja in the second round as a 16-year-old, in 2014 by Nicolas Almagro in the quarter final and in 2015 by Fabio Fognini in the third round.
“Once again I would like to announce my participation in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. This will be a special year for me given that it is my fifteenth participation. See you in Barcelona next April”,said Nadal.
The 2018 edition was highlighted by Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Kei Nishikori, Grigor Dimitrov.
Tournament director Albert Costa expect another great tournament next April, which lives up to the strong tradition of this event. Four or five players in the top 10 are expected to take part in the Barcelona Open next year. In 2018 a total of 101.467 fans attended the seven days of competition, an absolute record in the history of the tournament.
“The last edition was the best that was held. The fact that Rafa comes to Barcelona is great news even if it seems normal to the fans. Having Nada year after year is not something granted as he is getting older and he is potentially tired. It will be his 15th participation since he debuted in 2003. He is at home in his club and appreciates all our work in the tournament. It is a pride to be able to count on the best player in history on clay. Surely nobody will want to miss it”,said Albert Costa.