Sensory Overload: Why Tsitsipas says five senses aren't enough against Nadal

Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour

Stefanos Tsitsipas will try to bring the momentum from his Monte-Carlo triumph to Barcelona, where this week he is the fifth seed. While many eyes will be on the Greek at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, they will also be on Rafael Nadal, who is competing in his second tournament of the year.

“I would say that Rafa, regardless of whether he hasn't played at all or if that's his first tournament, we all know what Rafa is capable of and how quickly he can adjust to one of his favourite surfaces, which is a clay court,” Tsitsipas said after lifting the Monte-Carlo trophy. “I would not be surprised if we saw Rafa be in the finals of Barcelona, because that is something that he has done over and over again for years and years and years.”

Tsitsipas could face Nadal in the semi-finals. The Spaniard has won seven of their nine Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings and has earned the utmost respect from the Greek.

“What he does have is this competitiveness and this fierce tennis when he gets into the momentum that sometimes feels [from] the outside perspective unstoppable,” Tsitsipas said. “On court, things feel different, because you get the feeling of his ball. When you're watching, you just get a visual sensation, but I have all six sensations enabled and activated when I have to face him. I think he's the ultimate challenge on clay.”

Despite Nadal’s recent injury struggles, Tsitsipas is confident that the 37-year-old still has plenty to bring to the court.

“Whether he's playing now at let's say later stages of his career or the ones before,” Tsitsipas said. “I think what he has now that he didn't before is experience, and he for sure knows ways to win points and to prevail in more [of an] economy mode than he was before.”