The draw ceremony for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia was held on Monday afternoon in Rome. It’s a somewhat depleted field, with both Jannik Sinner (hip) and Carlos Alcaraz (arm). Daniil Medvedev is currently in the draw but remains a question mark due to a hip injury sustained in the Madrid quarterfinals.
Top seed Novak Djokovic is a six-time champion in Rome. The 36-year-old heads into this fortnight having played just one clay-court tournament (lost in the Monte-Carlo semifinals to Casper Ruud) and only three total in 2024. Djokovic and Ruud are on course for a rematch in the Rome quarterfinals.
Also in the top half of the bracket are Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, and Taylor Fritz. Dimitrov could face Lorenzo Musetti in the third round and either Fritz or Sebastian Korda in the last 16.
Rafael Nadal is back in action on the heels of an encouraging performance in Madrid. The 37-year-old Spaniard advanced three rounds–including a win over Alex de Minaur that avenged a Barcelona loss–before losing in two tight sets to Jiri Lehecka. Nadal awaits a qualifier in his opening match at the Foro Italico and his second-round test would come in the form of big-serving Hubert Hurkacz.
The former world No. 1 is in an overall soft section of the draw, where Medvedev is the second seed. Although the Russian is the defending champion in Rome, confidence in his title defense cannot be high giving his physical status coming out of Madrid. In addition to Hurkacz and Nadal, Holger Rune will be looking to take advantage of the opportunity along with Tommy Paul, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, and Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Elsewhere in the bottom half, Andrey Rublev and Felix Auger-Aliassime find themselves in the same section. Rublev beat Auger-Alaissime 4-6, 7-5, 7-5 in a surprising Madrid final on Sunday evening. Auger-Aliassime could meet Stan Wawrinka in the second round, De Minaur in the third, and Stefanos Tsitsipas in the fourth.
who ya got?
Rublev or Djokovic
Navone, Diaz Acosta and Rune could surprise.
is FDA in the field?
Just had a look at the draw and that could change things a bit. Looks like an open draw with lots of possibilities.
I don’t want to influence the outcome. I will just post my selections objectively and without bias prior to the matches like u normally do.
Good luck to all players and wishing you the best.
“like I normally do”