There is no rest for the weary. It kind of feels like the European clay-court swing just began, but the reality is that we have already arrived at the third of three Masters 1000 tournaments on the crushed brick.
Monte-Carlo and Madrid are already in the rearview mirror. So are Barcelona and Munich. Now it’s time for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia as the French Open looms large on the horizon later this month.
The Rome Masters will be especially intriguing, largely due to the return of Jannik Sinner. The world No. 1’s three-month suspension from tennis officially ended on Monday, so he is free to compete in front of his home fans at a tournament that begins on Wednesday. Sinner, who has not played since winning the Australian Open due to positive doping test in 2024, will begin his comeback against either Mariano Navone or Federico Cina. It’s not an easy draw for the top seed, who could run into Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Francisco Cerundolo in the third round and fourth round, respectively. Casper Ruud, who just won Madrid, is a potential quarterfinal opponent along with Matteo Berrettini.
Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, and Miami winner Jakub Mensik also find themselves in Sinner’s half of the draw.
Carlos Alcaraz is on the other side with Alexander Zverev. So, too, are Indian Wells champion and Madrid runner-up Jack Draper, Barcelona champ and Indian Wells runner-up Holger Rune, Monte-Carlo runner-up Lorenzo Musetti, Grigor Dimitrov, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Arthur Fils.
First-round matchups to watch include Tallon Griekspoor vs. Miomir Kecmanovic, Flavio Cobolli vs. Luca Nardi, Jiri Lehecka vs. Alexandre Muller, Joao Fonseca vs. Fabian Marzosan, Matteo Arnaldi vs. Roberto Bautista Agut, and Learner Tien vs. Reilly Opelka.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.