The spring clay segment of the season is gaining momentum, this week the main attention of tennis fans will be riveted to Barcelona, ​​where the tennis tournament of the ATP-500 category will be held. The tournament takes place on the courts of the Barcelona tennis club "Real Club de Tenis Barcelona", the ground here is traditional, not the fastest and not the slowest. Undoubted interest in this tournament Rafael Nadal. He is now traditionally the most successful segment of the season in his career: he managed to take his 10th title in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Roland Garros are next in line ... After all, these three tournaments are the most successful for him, he has never won so many titles anywhere else. Will it be possible this spring to complete 10-10-10 on the route Monte Carlo - Barcelona - Paris and thus take 30 titles in these tournaments? As for the game in Monte Carlo, I confess that the prerequisites for this are very good.

We are waiting for the 10th title in Barcelona, ​​Rafael...

This year we will not see Kei Nishikori in Barcelona, ​​who played last year in the final, and before that he took the title twice (right wrist injury). Among the top four seeded we have Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and ... Benoit Pere, who, it turns out, after the removal of Nishikori led lower part tournament grid. In general, the composition of the participants is very good this season: Goffin, Cuevas, Bautista-Agut, Ferrer, Carreno-Busta, Ramos-Vinolas ... Last week, the masters in Monte Carlo and reaching the final of the same Ramos showed us that now in men's tennis The competition is very serious and I think Barcelona will also please us with unexpected results.

Top of the bracket

Led upper part tournament bracket Andy Murray. Murray played two matches in Monte Carlo last week. After a difficult victory over Muller, Andy spoke about what worries his elbow, after losing the match in three sets to Ramos-Vinolasu, he already claimed that the elbow was in full order:

Now I am sure that my elbow is able to withstand heavy loads, so it will be easier for me to continue to work on myself and my game

Let's believe, of course, that the elbow is in order, but in terms of the game, Murray was frankly not impressed in Monte Carlo. Undoubtedly, we should expect that he will improve, but I don’t think that his goal here in Baselon is to take the title at any cost. His last visit here ended with a defeat in the quarterfinals from Milos Raonic. This was way back in 2012. Start this year will be a match against the winner of the match Tomic - Brown.

Dominic Tim at the top of the tournament bracket will try to move towards Murray towards a possible semi-final. Last week in Monte Carlo, despite the fact that he played only two matches, he showed good game. Yes, I lost to Goffin, but there, of course, Dominic shone and losing there was, as it were, not provocatively. In general, Tim is now in order. The tournament grid for the semi-finals in Barcelona is quite working for him. At the start, the winner of the match Chardy - Edmund, then Misha Zverev - Monteiro / Evans. Agree, there are no too dangerous opponents here. In a possible quarter-final of the seeded we see Carreno-Busta and Gasquet. Also, in my opinion, we can expect Tim to win. Of course, these are all pre-tournament riddles, layouts, but Tim's potential is known to all of us and I expect a successful performance from him here and now.

Of course, in the upper part of the tournament bracket, you should pay attention to the finalist of the masters in Monte Carlo Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Pleasantly surprised us spanish tennis player in Monte Carlo. Indeed, he deserved this success with his perseverance, his diligence. Of course, it will be risky to play him in the bets in Barcelona, ​​but you can hardly expect an outright decline. The tennis player, in principle, is serial, which he has already proved to us this season in South America, when he worked out 4 tournaments at a good level, he didn’t fly anywhere at the start, he won at least two victories. I think that three consecutive three-set matches in Monte Carlo convinced us that he is physically ready now. It will start with a match against the winner of the Albot/Ruud pair.

In terms of possible bets on the matches of the first round in the upper part of the tournament bracket, I would like to draw attention to the match Daniel Evans and Thiago Monteiro. Evans barely played on clay recent seasons. The tennis player is a typical representative of the hard school, where he has all the success. This season, he did a great job of the first part just on open hard. Then, of course, there was a natural decline. However, now the rating allows him to safely get into the main draw of major tournaments, including on clay, which he uses. Last week I played in Monte Carlo, where I lost to Edmund without options. Now also a difficult test awaits him in the person of the Brazilian tennis player Monteiro, who specializes just on the ground, who passed the difficult qualification in Barcelona (Rosol, Samper-Montana), has already nailed to the courts well. Even at the start of the season, they played among themselves on open hard in Sydney, when Evans reached the final and shone there. So, then they played in the 1st round and Evans won only in 3 sets. I think now is the time for Monteiro to rematch. A typical variant of a bet on a qualifier, a favorite in the line of bookmakers in the 1st round of the main draw.

Possible bet on the match Evans D. - Monteiro T. Monteiro win for odds 1.58 in bookmaker 1xBet(I don’t offer a negative handicap, because Monteiro is not one of those who feel confident in this component, although you can try a small negative handicap).

Lower part of the tournament bracket

Rafael Nadal led this part of the tournament bracket. And in the absence of Nishikori, Dominique Goffin will move towards him towards the possible seeding semi-final. History has a place to repeat itself. Why don't we see the Nadal-Goffin match again, as it was not so long ago in Monte Carlo.
Had a good tournament in Monte Carlo Rafael Nadal. In the course of each of his matches, there was no doubt that there would be a victory. Yes, we can say that the opponents at the decisive stages came up tired, exhausted, but the fact remains. We have in front of Barcelona a not too exhausted Nadal, who is very well involved in the clay season and who is hungry for victories. I think we should expect the continuation of what was started in Barcelona. I will not be surprised here by his next 10th title. It will start with a match against the winner of the Olivo/Dutra Silva pair. In his seeded quarter we see Ferrer, Kolschreiber, Alexander Zverev. With the latter in Monte Carlo, Nadal figured it out without any problems, David this season does not work out. Kohlschreiber, of course, is able to surprise what happened not so long ago in North America, but it will be very difficult for him to count on a victory on clay over Nadal.

I see the main favorites to reach the semi-finals from the bottom quarter Pablo Cuevas and Dominic Goffina. Both showed a good game in Monte Carlo, both love and know how to play on clay. Of course, Goffin is not easily given such decent workloads, I fully admit his early departure in Barcelona, ​​but Pablo Cuevas, after his match against Ramos in Monte Carlo, almost given by his own hands, I think he will not allow such failures. Yes, and Cuevas himself is a serial tennis player and it is very similar to the fact that now we are seeing this seriality in his performance. Do not forget that he and Bopanna took the title in the doubles tournament in Monte Carlo. Between themselves, the guys (Goffin and Cuevas) can meet already in the 1/8 finals.

In terms of possible bets on the matches of the first round in the lower part of the tournament bracket, I propose to consider the match between Kevin Anderson and Carlos Berloc. In my material “Difficulties of transition”, I wrote about Kevin Anderson and noted his traditionally unsuccessful starting matches on European soil. And in general, in terms of his career, in terms of the manner of playing, the ground is not the most convenient surface for Kevin. Now we see that he will play his first match in Europe, even in the qualification of the doubles tournament here in Barcelona with Sa he showed up to get some match practice on clay (I think he himself perfectly understands that it will not be easy for him). In rivals in the 1st round, he has a very difficult Carlos Berlok. The Argentine tennis player qualified in Monte Carlo, reached the 2nd round, where he lost to Ramos, who shone there. In general, in order now, as in tournaments in South America, we have seen now Carlos Berlok. Our line is almost equal, and along this line I propose to build on Anderson's statistics with his unsuccessful starting matches on the ground in Europe and from the more specialized Berlok.

Possible bet on the match Burlok K. - Anderson K. P1 ​​for odds 1.94 in bookmaker 1xBet.

Undoubtedly, an interesting tournament awaits us. Of course, it’s hard to talk about everything in one post, we will follow and predict during the tournament. All successful bets

The Barcelona Open Tennis Championship belongs to the elite category of the ATP World Tour 500. The tournament takes place on the clay courts of the Royal Tennis Club. 48 tennis players will take part in the competition. Prize fund is over $2 million.

The Barcelona Open Tennis Championship belongs to the elite category of the ATP World Tour 500. The tournament will take place from 18 to 24 April on the clay courts of the Royal Tennis Club. 48 tennis players will take part in the competition. The prize pool for the 2016 tournament will be $2.1 million.

Tournament history

The first time the tournament was held in 1953 by the influential Count Carlos de Godó Valls, who coincided with the construction of a tennis center in the capital of Catalonia. The winner is awarded the main prize - a goblet made of pure silver on an oak stand. Each year, the name of a new champion is engraved on the cup.

The first winner of the competition was Vic Seikas from the United States. Then the tournament was held in July, but starting from next year it was postponed to the spring. The postponement was associated with the start of a series of clay competitions preceding RolandGarros.

In 1960, the center court was erected, which was able to accommodate 3,000 spectators. In the same year, the first Spaniard Andre Gimeno celebrated his triumph on it. In 1967, before the meeting against the Soviet team within the framework of the Davis Cup, the main court was reconstructed, after which it began to accommodate 8,500 spectators.

Since 1968, the tournament has been called the Spanish International Championship. In 1969, due to frequent rains, it is transferred to autumn, where it will stay for several seasons. By 1980, the Barcelona tournament becomes the most prestigious competition of the autumn.

In 1990, it shifted back to spring, where it has remained to this day. In 2005, rising tennis star Rafael Nadal from Spain becomes the winner of the competition for the first time. After his first triumph, he then won the tournament three more times in a row, setting a record for the number of victories in the competition. Over the years, such famous tennis players as Carlos Moya, Thomas Muster, Marat Safin, Richard Krajicek, Ivan Lendl, Bjorn Borg, Ilie Nastase have won victories here. Now the tennis tournament in Barcelona occupies a significant place in the grid of tennis tournaments, annually gathering top athletes planets.

List of participants

The list of participants in the tournament will be determined only before its start, but among the world tennis stars, their participation in the tournament has already been confirmed:

• Rafael Nadal
• David Ferrer
• Kei Nishikori
• Dominic Thiem
• David Goffin

Where are the tennis courts

The tournament takes place on the courts of the Barcelona tennis club "Real Club de Tenis Barcelona", which is located at Carrer de Bosch i Gimpera, 5 - 13.

We recommend taking the subway to the courts. To do this, you need to take the green line of the L3 meters and get off at the Maria Cristina station. Further on the map below, in 15 minutes of a quiet walk you will reach the courts. By the way, the Camp Nou stadium is located in the same area, you just have to go downhill, not uphill.

How to buy tickets

Ticket prices start from 7 euros (qualification), 14-85 euros (preliminary rounds), 45-90 euros (quarter-finals). A trip to the semi-final and final will cost 52-110 euros. Those who wish can purchase a subscription to all competitions. It costs 199-410 euros (depending on the podium).

Spain. Barcelona. Men. Singles. Coating - ground. ATP-500, 48 participants.

Announcement

The largest men's tournament this week was the 500th tournament in Barcelona, ​​Spain, which was attended by four tennis players from the top ten of the world rankings, led by the "ground king" Nadal. And although it is unlikely that anyone will be able to stand in the way of the Spaniard to the second title of the season, we still have the right to expect a number of exciting fights from the competition.

Public opinion

If you look at the results of voting among tennis fans, it turns out that Nadal leading by a wide margin. 71% of fans believe in him. In second place is expected to be the first racket of the world Murray(which got 13% of the votes). Other competitors are present in the list only symbolically. For example, Sasha Zverev has 4%, Goffin and Tim each have 3%, Carreno-Busta and Bautista-Agut have only 1% of the vote. As for the rest of the contenders, they have virtually no chance of winning the title. In total, a group of 41 tennis players has a 3% chance, which rather indicates not a real probability, but that this is the percentage of users who prefer to bet on odds from 50.0 to 500.0.

Odds score

In this review, we will not touch on those athletes who are present in the tournament bracket quite symbolically. Consider the chances of those who deserve at least reaching the quarterfinals. Let's start with the weakest in the group of leaders and finish with an assessment of the chances of an undisputed leader.

10 Closes the top ten Philip Kohlschreiber.

The German has always been considered a clay player and in his younger years even took several titles on this surface. Last week in Macarres, he beat the highly rated Per and reached the final, where he lost to the promising Coric. Today he will meet with the younger Zverev, and in case of success, most likely, he will go to Rafa. But here there are no chances in principle. At 15 head-to-head meetings Kolschreiber managed to win only once, and even then it happened on the grass, on which the Spaniard is not always successful.

9 Ninth place Alexandra Zvereva.

Yesterday, with great difficulty, the German defeated Almagro, who has long been blown away in three games (7:6 4:6 6:4), and tomorrow he expects a meeting with the winner of the Kohlschreider-Chön pair. It is clear that Sasha is younger and will have one more day of rest than his veteran compatriot. However, the battle is expected to be stubborn, it is unlikely that Philip likes that Zverev took away the title of the first racket of Germany from him. However, this will be a local battle, and then a meeting with Nadal will follow, who will surely stop any of the Germans who have reached him. On the this moment Nadal leads in the confrontation with Sasha 3:0. Yes, Zverev managed to put up a desperate five-set resistance to the Spaniard in Melbourne, but there was hard and besides, the German still lost. And at the recent tournament in Monaco, Rafa's advantage was overwhelming (6:1 6:1). So we give Zverev a purely symbolic chance.

8 In the eighth position we placed Roberto Batista-Aguta.

Although the Spaniard is already 29 years old, he has always been in third roles, even in his own country. Sat behind Nadal, Verdasco, Ferrer and a dozen other competitors. And suddenly, in his old age, he made his way into the top twenty. However, this rather speaks not of the strength of Roberto, but of the absence of young talents in tennis. It is not for nothing that the veterans, who are over 30, are still on the horse. The Spaniard may well get to the quarterfinals, since there are no serious rivals on his way, but Murray, who leads in the score against Roberto 3:0, will stand as an insurmountable wall.

7 Seventh on our list was Pablo Carreno Busto.

This is another Spaniard, but much more promising than Agut. In the current season, he is showing good results, but he has not been able to win against any opponent in the top thirty of the rating. He is inferior to Nadal 0:3 in personal meetings, and the losses date back to 2015 and 2016, when Rafa was permanently injured. It is clear that now Pablo has even less chance to present a sensation than it was before. He will most likely get to the quarterfinals, because for this you just need to break the resistance of Yuichi Sugita. But what the Spaniard will be able to oppose to Tim is unclear.

6 Sixth position in law Benoit Peer.

The Frenchman has long been walking in budding. However, soon he will only have to serve towels to more successful competitors. After all, the guy is already 27 years old, and there was no breakthrough, and no. A year ago, he entered the top twenty of the rating, but immediately flew out of it. Since then, victories over really strong opponents have ceased. The strongest of those whom Benoit beat this season is the veteran Robredo. At the last tournament in Monte Carlo, the Frenchman lost in the first round to Haas, also a veteran, and who had just recovered from his injury.

5 The fifth line belongs to Kevin Anderson.

He is not considered among the contenders for the title, but in vain. The two-meter guy from South Africa has an outstanding serve and is able to demolish anyone from the court. And the most interesting thing is that Kevin prefers clay courts that for a tennis player of his physique, the phenomenon is simply amazing. Another thing is that he is unstable and prone to injury. But now Anderson is quite healthy, which he proved with victories over Ferrer and Burloc - two strong earth opponents. And last week in Houston, Kevin lost only two tiebreaks to Verdasco. So dismissing it would be foolish. Alas, already in the third round, Kevin will have to measure his strength with Nadal, and in this confrontation things are not going well - 3 defeats in three meetings. That's why Anderson is so low.

4 in fourth place David Goffin.

The Belgian is steadily progressing and quietly climbed to the tenth line of the ranking. In Monte Carlo, he managed to stop not only Tim, but also the second racket of the world, Djokovic. In general, David shows decent results for the season. Some even thought that he had a chance to confront Nadal. But the tournament in Monaco last week dispelled those illusions. The 3:6 1:6 rout demonstrated that without hard hit Nothing to do with Rafa. And Goffin's main trump card is speed, against the mobile and tireless Nadal it turns into nothing. FROM tournament bracket the Belgian was lucky, his closest rivals are Basilashvili, Khachanov and Per (most likely), so he must go to the semi-finals. But this is the ceiling for David, because Nadal looms there.

3 Third place Dominic Tim.

The Austrian is the only one of all the tennis players listed earlier who resists Nadal (he managed to win one out of three meetings). Tim is at the top of the bracket, which means that in the semi-finals he can only face Murray (if he does not fly out earlier). With the Scot, Dominic acts in a similar manner, at 23 he is healthy and able to progress. In two personal meetings, Tim, although he lost, each time he caught one set. All this indicates that the Austrian is able to pass Murray with a certain amount of luck. And in the end, all sorts of miracles happen. Therefore, we do not rule out Dominic winning the title.

2 Booked the second position Andy Murray.

Although the previous tournament in Monte Carlo showed that the Briton still does not succeed in earth tournaments (there he already lost to Alberto Ramos, a very mediocre tennis player in the second round), but at the moment he is the first racket of the world, which makes Eddie's chances to be treated enough Seriously. However, defeats from Pospisil, Misha Zverev and the aforementioned Ramos make one doubt that Murray is now able to resist Nadal. From Rafa it would be wild to expect a loss to someone from the mentioned three players. Yes, and in personal meetings, the Scot is inferior to the main competitor 7:17. For Murray, even getting into the final will be an unconditional success.

1 First place without any doubt Nadal.

Only 4 defeats were suffered by the "king of the soil" this season, 3 of them from one person - Federer. And all the failures happened on hard. On the ground, Rafa immediately won the first tournament, and right away at the Masters in Monaco. With all competitors for the title in Barcelona, ​​the Spaniard has an overwhelming balance of personal statistics. Perhaps, at the moment there is no one who could compete with him in earthen tournaments.

Tennis player	Rating	Pos. in the ranking	Wins/Losses (20 last matches)	Preferred type of coverage	Chances of winning
R. Nadal	4235	5	+16 -4	priming	60%
E. Murray	11690	1	+13 -3	grass	10%
D. Tim	3385	9	+14 -6	priming	8%
D. Goffin	2975	10	+15 -5	hard	7%
K. Anderson	730	66	+4 -5	priming	5%
B. Peer	915	49	+11 -9	priming	4%
P. Carregno-Busta	2025	20	+13 -7	priming	3%
R. Bautista-Agut	2145	18	+14 -6	soil and hard	2%
A. Zverev	2005	21	+13 -7	hard and synthetic	1%
F. Kolschreiber	1240	31	+12 -8	soil and hard	0%

Conclusion

It's hard to imagine who could beat Nadal in Barcelona. Last year, overshadowed by injuries, the Spaniard was still able to win here, in the final, having dealt with Kei Nishikori. This time, the Japanese refused to speak, so Rafa has practically no competitive rivals.