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The 69th edition of the Barcelona Open will be held from April 18-24. It's one of two tournaments taking place this week, with the other event being the Serbia Open headlined by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Rafael Nadal, the most decorated player in the history of the Barcelona Open with 12 titles, won't be participating this time around. The defending champion is currently sidelined with a rib injury. Jannik Sinner, Hubert Hurkacz and Denis Shapovalov were set to compete, but withdrew from the tournament.
World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas is the top seed in Nadal's absence and leads a rather stacked draw. Here's all the information you need to know about the 2022 Barcelona Open.
What is the Barcelona Open?
Classified as an ATP 500 event, the Barcelona Open attracts plenty of top players every year. It's one of the oldest tournaments on the circuit, having been held for the first time in 1953.
The tournament was a part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit from 1970 to 1989, except for the 1971 edition. That year, the event was included on the World Championship Tennis circuit.
Rafael Nadal has won a record 12 titles, second only to his haul of 13 titles at Roland Garros. He won the tournament five years in a row from 2005 to 2009, and then from 2011 to 2013, 2016 to 2018 and 2021. In 2017, the center court was renamed as Pista Rafa Nadal (Rafael Nadal Arena) to honor the Spaniard.
Venue
The tournament will be held on red clay at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain.
Players
World No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas is the top seed. The Greek has been a runner-up twice at the Barcelona Open, losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions. With the 21-time Major champion on the sidelines, this will be his best chance to get his hands on the trophy.
Casper Ruud, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Cameron Norrie round out the top four seeds. The trio made early exits from Monte-Carlo and will aim to get their clay season back on track in Barcelona.
Carlos Alcaraz, who suffered a surprisingly early loss at the Monte-Carlo Masters, will aim to get back to winning ways. Plenty of other top 30-players, including Grigor Dimitrov, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alex de Minaur and Dan Evans are in the mix as well.
Schedule
The qualifying rounds are to be held over the weekend of April 16-17. Main-draw action is set to commence on Monday, April 18 at 11 am local time.
Both the singles and doubles finals are scheduled for Sunday, April 24.
The official tournament schedule can be accessed here.
Prize Money
The total prize money for this edition of the Barcelona Open is €2,661,825. The winner will take home a cheque worth €178,985 and 500 ranking points.
Where to watch
Viewers in the US, UK, and Canada can catch all the action live on the following channels and sites.
USA: All matches will be broadcast on Tennis Channel.
UK: All matches will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video.
Canada: Viewers in Canada can watch all the matches on TSN.
For more information regarding the broadcast of matches, click here.
