THE Stefanos Tsitsipas he was asked in yesterday’s interview if he thinks the way has been opened for him after the withdrawal of last year’s winner Carlos Alcarat from the tournament and he surprised everyone by anointing Rafa Nadal as the favorite.
“You can ask Rafa, I think he is the favorite (laughs). I’ve certainly had good weeks on clay, but Rafa is Rafa. He’s back, he’s playing good tennis, I’m sure of that.”
Of course, Nadal could not leave this statement unanswered and responded accordingly to the Greek No7 in the world ranking.
“It’s dumb (laughs). Let’s be realistic. And he knows it’s not like that.
I guess there’s a lot of respect because of what I’ve achieved here, but everyone knows I’m not a favorite to win this tournament.
It’s just that there is a long story behind me that is calculated by my opponents. Maybe in today’s race I was a favorite, I have no idea.
I know that I won’t be the favorite against De Minor, but that doesn’t matter either. These are things for you to write down, for me it’s just an experience of playing with a top level player.
It will be a good test for me, we’ll see how I respond.”
The 37-year-old Spaniard, who has fallen to 646th in the world after successive withdrawals from Doha, Indian Wells and Monte Carlo, has won the tournament in the Catalan capital 12 times.
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