Estoril Open may not feature Federer, Nadal, Djokovic – Zilhao

ESTORIL Open Tournament Director Joao Zilhao commented on the upcoming Portuguese event that will take place in late April.

Speaking in a press conference call on Wednesday, Zilhao said: “We will have two of the best eight best ranked players (Kevin Anderson and Stefanos Tsitsipas), which is very good.

And then other two top 20s. Great players, without forgetting we have the best three Next Gen players, future champions. We made an effort to bring the best possible players. This year we managed to bring names I did not expect to.

It will be a great tournament, with a very good level. But we do not have money for Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic.” The Swiss competed in Estoril in 2010, he will play in Madrid and at the French Open this year.

Zilhao also revealed something interesting about Tsitsipas: “It took me six months of negotiations to bring Tsitsipas as his price was always increasing. I started the negotiations a few less after the 2018 Estoril Open and he was winning, winning, winning.

He beat four top 10 players in August and the price got double, then he won Stockholm and Next Gen ATP Finals. His agent was not giving me the okay and when I closed it that was already an enormous value. He was the strongest but toughest player to bring, but it was a clear bet for us.”

Tsitsipas will have a very busy schedule as he competes in Monte Carlo, Barcelona, Estoril, Madrid, Rome and French Open, then in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Queen’s on grass prior to Wimbledon.