A Historic Stage In Barcelona
The Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, Trofeo Conde de Godo, has been staged at the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, the oldest Spanish tennis club, since 1953. The ATP 500 clay-court tournament is one of the most important events in Spanish tennis and on the Barcelona social calendar. Rafael Nadal owns a record 12 trophies at this event.
On the occasion of enhancing the new headquarters of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899 in Pedralbes, the Board of Directors of the entity, chaired by Carlos Godó Valls, Count of Godó, decided, in 1952, to establish the celebration of a tournament that included the historical international vocation of the dean entity of Spanish tennis.
A year later, in June 1953, the Conde de Godó Trophy, the new competition, heir to the Barcelona International Championships born in 1903, the interclub competitions with leading entities of world tennis, and the Spring and Autumn International Competitions, became a reality. To immortalize the image of its winner, the event also had an iconic trophy, donated by the Count of Godó.
More than six decades later, the tournament is an emblem for the city of Barcelona, not only because it is the most important sporting event held annually in Barcelona, but also one of its social events with the greatest importance.
On the other hand, maintaining and preserving that spirit of a club tournament, in which the entire social mass collaborates, makes it, as its participants have repeatedly stated, one of the tournaments most esteemed by the players on the circuit.
Grand Slam champions, the great figures of Spanish tennis, a cast of world number ones, have forged the history of this competition, in a proud entity in which illustrious names such as Arantxa Sánchez Vicario, Conchita Martínez, Rafael appear among its members. Nadal, Carlos Moyà, Albert Costa, Andrés Gimeno, Carlos Costa, Emilio Sánchez Vicario, Tommy Robredo, Félix Mantilla José Higueras, José Luis Arilla, Rosa Torras, Lourdes Domínguez, Alberto Berasategui, Julián Alonso, Carmen Perea, Tomás Carbonell, Francis Roig or Galo Blanco.