Does Nadal Have Anything Left in the Tank for Rome? Preview
Thirteen of the Top 15 players post this week in Rome for the Italian Open, where the Masters 1000 grind continues on the heels of the Madrid Open.
Rafael Nadal is back to his top claycourt form, while world No. 1 Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are trying to play catch-up.
Here’s a look at the 2017 Italian Open field:
Seeds: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal, Milos Raonic, Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori, Dominic Thiem, David Goffin, Grigor Dimitrov, Lucas Pouille, Tomas Berdych, Jack Sock, Albert Ramos Vinolas, Pablo Carreno Busta, Alexander Zverev
Floaters: Fabio Fognini, Tommy Haas, Ivo Karlovic, Nicolas Mahut, Benoit Paire, Pablo Cuevas, Diego Schwartzman, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Gilles Simon, Nick Kyrgios, Roberto Bautista Agut, Juan Martin del Potro
Notes: It’s floater central in Rome, where Nadal and Thiem have to come in a little gassed from the Madrid final…Tough starts for (1) Murray vs. Fognini, (5) Raonic vs. the Haas-Dr. Ivo winner, (3) Wawrinka starting against a tough Frenchman in either Mahut or Paire, (8) Thiem vs. Cuevas, (13) Sock vs. the hot-handed Schwartzman, an injured (7) Nishikori vs. the Ferrer-Lopez winner, (10) Dimitrov vs. Del Potro, (15) Carreno Busta vs. Simon (winner to face the Kyrgios-Bautista Agut winner, then (2) Djokovic)…The all-Italian wildcard line-up is Matteo Berrettini, Gianluca Mager, Stefano Napolitano and Seppi…Notables making it through the tough qualifying cut-off were Nicolas Almagro and Kevin Anderson…Pulling from the field were Marcos Baghdatis, Roger Federer, Richard Gasquet, Steve Johnson, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Paolo Lorenzi, Gael Monfils, Gilles Muller, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga…Murray beat Djokovic in last year’s final…Former champs in the field are Murray (2016), Djokovic (2015-14,’11,’08), and the seven-time champion Nadal (2013-12,’10-09,’07-05).
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