Seventy years is a respectable figure, also for a sports competition. The Godó Trophy is the result of an initiative by my father Carlos, who in 1953 not only laid the first stone of the current RCT Barcelona, but also decided that the Catalan capital would have a great tennis tournament. He was president of the entity between 1935 and 1959 and understood that the club had to move from its facilities on Ganduxer street, towards where the city grew, to the Can Canet farmhouse in Pedralbes.
It was a large open field, whose remodeling was commissioned by the rationalist architect Raimundo Durán Reynals and the decorators Pierre Lottier and Manolo Muntañola. If a great trophy with his name was to be held on its tracks, it was essential to move from a track for 500 spectators to another that could accommodate ten times as many people.
Sometimes in life it is worth looking in the rear-view mirror and, without dwelling on nostalgia, see where we come from to know where we want to go. Today the Godó-Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell Trophy is one of the important tournaments on the circuit, which is part of the city's sports and social agenda. But to get this far required the personal leadership and economic generosity of Carlos Godó, who knew how to be a visionary when he perceived that tennis was going to become a great sport for the masses, followed by millions of people all over the planet.
And he also had the ability to open the doors of his house to host tennis players from half the world so that they felt loved and valued. Godó's first final, which although I was a child I perfectly remember was endless, ended with an exhausting set (32-30) in favor of the American Victor Seixas. He could not have had a better champion for the trophy in its first edition, since the Philadelphia champion has been in the Hall of Fame for half a century, among other reasons because he played more Davis Cup matches than John McEnroe.
Throughout seven decades, many things have changed in the trophy, because the world and tennis have changed from top to bottom, but its organizers have managed to maintain the spirit of its beginnings. And it continues to be a club tournament, something almost unusual on the circuit, identified with the city that hosts it and where tennis players feel at home. Everything seems close to them and the public is very cordial. Godó is a source of pride for Barcelona and the people of Barcelona feel it is theirs. And for me it is a satisfaction to have put a grain of sand in this story that one day my father undertook.
I have been lucky enough to follow this competition since the first day, when I was a boy who loved to play tennis with a wooden racket that they gave me at home. This year's edition is special because of the anniversary, but also because the team of players is spectacular, led by the number 1 in the ranking, Carlos Alcaraz. The trophy is an essential event, which demonstrates the city's commitment to sport. The one that allowed it to celebrate the best Olympic Games in history and that next year will make it the venue for the America's Cup. Seventy years is not a heavy load, but rather a sign of Barcelona's commitment to continue improving as a metropolis and with sport as a transforming element of dreams.
