Rafael Nadal has an astonishing record in Barcelona, where he won the title 11 times. The King of Clay also has the Center Court named after him, which could be an intimidating factor for his opponents when facing the Spanish legend in that venue.
This year in Barcelona, Nadal will be seeded number 1. While he is widely considered the top favorite to win yet another title in Catalonia, he needs to be careful about Stefanos Tsitsipas that has just won the ATP 1000 in Monte Carlo.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is seeded number 2 in Barcelona, and therefore, he might clash against Rafa only in the final. Stefanos and Rafa clashed already in the final in Barcelona (2018), but on that occasion, the King of Clay demolished Tsitsipas with a telling 6-2 6-1 scoreline. Stefanos played also the next year, but he lost Jan-Lennard Struff in 3 sets
The “good news” for Nadal is that the last champion in Barcelona, Dominic Thiem, decided not to compete this year. The Austrian defeated Nadal in 2019 in the semi-final in straight sets (6-4 6-4). The tournament was not staged there in 2020 because of the global pandemic.
Rafael Nadal in 2021
Currently the world no.3, the Spaniard played his last match on the 16th of April when he was defeated by world no.7 Andrey Rublev 6-2 4-6 6-2 in the quarter in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (draw).
This year Rafael achieved a 6-2 record.
Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2021
Ranked world no.5 (career-high), Tsitsipas played his last match on the 18th of April when he overcame world no.7 Andrey Rublev 6-3 6-3 in the final in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to win his 6th career title.
This season Stefanos has managed to achieve an overall 22-5 win-loss record. This year, The Greek lifted the trophy in Carlo. The Greek was the runner-up in Acapulco.
Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas played each other 8 times. Their current record is 6-2 for Nadal. The last time they squared off, Stefanos Tsitsipas won 3-6 2-6 7-6(4) 6-4 7-5 in the quarter in Melbourne (Australian Open) on the 17th of February 2021.
Here the video highlights.
