Night falls and the RCTB cools down, and on the court Rafael Nadal persists with Stéfanos Tsitsipas.
The Greek suffers against Sebastian Ofner, scores the first set and saves a set point in the second, and at 1h36m he ends up defeating the Austrian (6-4 and 7-5), a middle class player on the circuit who is giving his best this year, 37th in the world in January, 43rd today.
Tsitsipas (25) watches Ofner’s last ball go long, and celebrates the victory with his arm raised, as if it were a great step in his career, since he comes in a rush (last week he won in Monte Carlo) and He is looking forward to this tournament: three finals have escaped him in the RCTB, two against Nadal and a third against Alcaraz, already in 2023.
In Pedralbes, we have seen him tearful in other times, watching how Nadal collected another trophy, one more, the tenth, the eleventh… wanting to make it his own, and now, with the two Spanish talents ruled out, the Greek interprets that Ancha is Castilla.
–The conditions here are very different from those in Monte Carlo. Another tennis. I have had to speed up my shots and get closer to the baseline. The important thing is that I keep finding ways to win – the Greek says later.
The highway is widened, since Lorenzo Musetti, tenth favorite, another of those phenomena of the phenomenal new Italian school (that of Sinner, Sonego, Arnaldi…), has also given way, yesterday dropped by Roberto Carballés.
If Tsitsipas feels in a position to offer a surprise, the time is now.
–¿Se ve favorito?
–There are De Minaur, Ruud, myself. It will be a matter of three or four players.
His hug gives a respite to the tournament, shaken in recent days due to the resignation of Alcaraz and the fall of the legendary Nadal, also shaken by the drift of Andrey Rublev.
The Russian without a flag, a revelation player on the circuit a few years ago, today a Top 10 player with a dizzying game (he is eighth today), but also an unpredictable volcano, has fallen apart.
Nobody had seen it coming but, on Tuesday, Rublev (second seed of the tournament) got stuck against Brandon Nakashima.
And stuck and enraged, this is how he had left the stage: he had done it by smashing his racket on the clay, one, two, three, four blows, even more, as many as were necessary to break everything, this Rublev is unstoppable fire.
Casper Ruud (25), finalist in Monte Carlo a few days ago, is something else, it is calm.
If something distinguishes the Norwegian, it is his chameleon-like vocation, his ability to adapt to any environment and, managing behind the scenes, as if he didn’t want to, move forward.
The fan lives life in the Village, the refreshments flow and the DJ plays in the Roof area, and from above, the curious contemplate Ruud’s academic tennis, as perfect on clay as it is discreet in its future.
It does not highlight Ruud’s tennis, but it does leave study material for the tennis instructor: “this is what has to be done and it is done this way,” they can tell their disciples, while they press play on the video and show them how the Norwegian gets rid of Alexandre Muller (6-3 and 6-4). Now he will face Jordan Thompson,
Ruud plays tennis like David Ferrer did, or like the best Roberto Bautista did, another one who is catching his breath, having already recovered from his fibula injury.
