David Ferrer speaks at the RCT Barcelona and two meters from him emerges a trophy that he knows very well. They have deprived it of the urn for a photo session and it looks natural, just as it is delivered to the winner after the final. He imposes a lot. The Xàbia tennis player could never lift it. He stayed very close. But still he feels it as his. It's in his scrapbook. It is part of it. Now as director of the Godó Trophy, but always as a player and as a fan, he conveys what the tournament means to him.
If you put aside your status as director of the Trophy, as a tennis fan, what do you like most about Godó?
Well, when you enter Fan Boulevard, suddenly the players, the ball boys, the referees come out and you can breathe a unique atmosphere. I love it. I have lived it as a child with my parents and it is a unique week. The fact of being able to see the best tennis players and the fact that a tournament of these characteristics is held in a club like Tenis Barcelona is something that gives our competition a lot of cachet and that the players appreciate.
And as a tennis player... when you came here, what appealed to you the most?
The sentimental aspect, the fact that my parents came. Later, being able to play on center court, playing finals there, being in Barcelona, which was my second home... I've really enjoyed Godó. I have been able to experience emotions that I had wanted as a child.
And now as a director, what do you say to a tennis player who has not been to Godó to come?
Selling our tournament is very easy because it has a lot of history, for our club, for this city, because tennis breathes, because the best come. Every professional likes to play tournaments that are part of history, such as Monte Carlo, Rome, Barcelona... tournaments that have been won by so many players who have given luster to this sport. As a director I always try to take care of the aspects that can make life easier for the player.
If you look back, which party of yours would you choose from those you played in Godó?
The final I lost to Rafa Nadal in 2012 7-6, 7-5. I had many chances to win.
Would you have exchanged three or four of your titles to win a Godó?
Without a doubt, I would not think so. I won 27 ATP tournaments but I would have traded three to win one in Barcelona. I would have liked to be 24 and a Godó.
Here we have seen Nadal, Alcaraz or Tsitsipás grow. Is it a tournament that anticipates the future?
It is not that I anticipate, it is that the one who wins here is that he is already very good. Winning here is difficult, there is always a good poster. Alcaraz and Tsitsipás shone early here but it was already clear that they were going to be very good.
Evolving while maintaining the essence is the raison d'être of Godó?
Always. Evolution is part of life, and that is why every year we try to improve but we never lose the essence of the tournament. We have to maintain the feeling that when you walk through the door of this tournament you think that this is where tennis was born. The players feel when they arrive that this club has a very important history.
Roger Federer has already retired and Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic are celebrating their birthdays. They are three eternal champions who can leave a great void. In this sense, how do you see the health of the tennis circuit?
They are very special and have marked an era. Replacing them is very difficult. But at the time it was also said that behind Sampras and Agassi you would not find that charisma and then these three giants plus Murray have come. I always said that after Rafa (Nadal) Spanish tennis would suffer a very important void and see if I was wrong because Carlos Alcaraz, charismatic and very special, has burst in. In Spanish tennis there will always be players in the top ten but players like Rafa or Carlos is very complicated. We will enjoy them for many years.
What role do you think the Godó Trophy has played these 70 years in the evolution of Spanish tennis?
It has been very important. It was the first tournament in Spain with an important history and that caused young people to see and breathe tennis. When I started, I came to this tournament. If I have played tennis it is largely because of this tournament.
Do you still play?
Yeah, not much, but I'm still playing. Once or twice a week. Sometimes with Pablo Andújar, but I also play with everyone, with people from my academy, with Pablo Carreño or Alcaraz in preseason. If I have time I play because I like it and that way I'm also in shape. Now I have another way to enjoy tennis. I no longer train to improve because you are getting worse, but I do train to keep fit and also to see how the players are, because now I am also the captain of the Davis Cup in Spain.
We know that he rides a bicycle and pedals. Do you find any similarities between cycling and tennis?
The truth is that no, the only thing is that you feel good because you do sports, but in tennis you have to constantly maintain concentration and in cycling not so much, it gives you a piece of peace with nature. It gives me a lot of peace. I have found my sport after tennis. I love it and muscularly it is not harmful.
