The draw has been revealed for Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Second-seeded Rafael Nadal has a first-round BYE. He will begin his campaign against US Open semi-finalist Pablo Carreno Busta in Rome.
Rafa’s potential route to the final:
- 1st round: Bye
- 2nd round: Pablo Carreno Busta
- 3rd round: Milos Raonic
- Quarter-final: Diego Schwartzman
- Semi-final: Stefanos Tsitsipas
- Final: Novak Djokovic
If the men play to seed the quarter-final line up will be:
- Novak Djokovic v Gael Monfils
- Matteo Berrettini v David Goffin
- Fabio Fognini v Stefanos Tsitsipas
- Diego Schwartzman v Rafael Nadal
Our champ is currently on a 10-match winning streak in Rome, having won the past two editions of the tournament. The 35-time ATP Masters 1000 winner won three-set battles against Alexander Zverev in the 2018 championship match and Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.
If Rafa triumphs for the third straight year in Rome, he will capture a 10th trophy at a single event for the fourth time in his career. The Manacor native owns 12 Roland Garros trophies and has won 11 crowns at both the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.
GOOD LUCK & VAMOS RAFA!
Source: ATP Tour
Yes indeed, Pauline. I think this match against Pablo is just what Rafa needs for a first match back. He’s motoring! Keep your foot firmly down on the pedal, champ. Excellent work so far.
Layoff? What layoff! So far so good. Sorry for Pablo(but not too sorry) that he drew Rafa straight out.
Keep it going Champ.
Pablo was really good in New York but has no chance against Rafa today. Rafa looks great!
“Rafael Nadal has a massive “advantage” at Roland Garros because of his decision to skip the US Open and practice on clay instead. This is the opinion of Novak Djockovic. Although this may be true, I can’t help thinking that this was said deliberately to take the pressure off him and on to Rafa.
Nevertheless, this won’t be in Rafa’s head. Respectful of every player, he won’t take anything for geanted and will work his hardest on every single point.
A solid match from Novak. He continued his famous post match celebration after his win today (yuk), even without a crowd. Weird. He’s probably imagining the applause (or mainly applause) of a full stadium.
Bring on the fire today Rafa, as Pablo CB is no slouch.. Can’t wait.
It seems like all the Italian players have done well today except S. Caruso lol
S. Travaglia beat B. Coric
M. Berrettini beat F. Coria
S. Tsitsipas is in danger against J. Sinner right now, let’s see……
No wonder RBA pulled out of the Italian Open, his wife gave birth to their first child, a baby boy today.
Congratulations to RBA and his wife🎊🥳
Congratulations to RBA on the birth of his baby boy. Joyful news after the sad death of his father a year ago.
Wonderful news Mimi about the addition to Roberto’s family. A new baby is always cause for celebration.
Roberto said the only thing holding him up during the loss of both parents was the love of his wife. His mom’s death was totally unexpected. About two years after Roberto’s dad died, she died at the age of only 52, in her sleep.
His wife and tennis saved him.
Hi Margo,
Wonderful, news indeed! So happy for Roberto 🥰
Are you ready for Rafa and Pablo? Rafa is finally back on court OMG 🙏😍🤩
Enjoy the match👌
Joyous news from Roberto and his wife Ana on the birth of little Rober. Enhorabuena.
It’s too late for this year but hoping that next year Rafa will join him in the top ten father’s club.
That would be great, Pauline👍 A little Rafa or Maria……
When does Rafa play?? Anyone knows????
Not before 7pm local time tomorrow, not before 10am pacific time.
Thanks a lot Mimi Lau
You are welcome, Rafan.
Margo…. I just read on EssentiallySports the following as I know you were interested in Rafa’s comments about Dominic’s victory….
In a pre-tournament press conference for the Italian Open, Nadal congratulated ‘hard-worker’ Dominic Thiem for his first Grand Slam title. . Rafa said Thiem fully deserved the victory.
“Happy for Dominic… if somebody deserves to win a big title is him. Super hard worker very focused on his goals, good person….that’s a good human and he deserves it,” Nadal said.
“I’m sorry for Sasha (Zverev). He was very close to the final, but somewhere I think Dominic was a little bit stronger throughout the tournament and after a lot of years of hard work he deserved to win the title. Sasha will have other opportunities in the future.”
And there you go…. Rafa … who says what he means and means what he says…. A very open and honest comment about Dominic Thiem … I remember when Rafa gave his speech at the French Open, as he looked at Dominic he said “You will be here one day …that is for sure” …. and I agree it’s only a matter of time however.let’s hope it’s not this year 🙂 …. I want our boy to lift up that cup once again….
Can’t wait for tomorrow! We finally get to see him in action…
VAMOS RAFA!!!
Thank you Marileena.
I had TennisTV on today but with the sound off as I was working, now watching Stan’s match v Musetti, sound on. USO and “Cincy” had so much noise around the stadium, even without the canned applause, that it sounded quite normal. All you can hear in Rome are the crickets. This is what I imagined spectator-less tennis to be like when it was announced. The scoreboard has failed as well. It’s kind of eerie. But Rafa must have played so many practice sets in conditions like this, hopefully it won’t seem as strange to him as it does to me.
Were you surprised Stan Wawrinka got a bagel in the first set? He is in danger of losing in straight sets now……😱
I didn’t see the first set, but yes, very surprised at the score. Stan played a bad tiebreak in the second set as well. I thought he had a good chance here and might have been a threat to Djokovic in their quarter of the draw 🤷♀️
I thought so too, and I was hoping either Stan or Gael, maybe Gael now? If I remember it correctly, Marco, qualifier from Italy, beat Djokovic at the FO in 2018🤔
For Rafa scheduling, I check the ATP Tour site. Easy to understand and regularly updated.
Search “ATP Tour Rome schedule” and you’ll get:
ATP Masters 1000 Rome | Daily Schedule | ATP Tour | Tennis
Best one yet. Thanks.
I do the same👍
The ATP/WTA app is pretty good – one tab is for live scores and one is for the order of play.
Rafa vs PCB match is scheduled not before 7pm local time tomorrow, not before 10am pacific time.
Have a good match Rafa! Vamos💪🍀❤️
I’m very happy about that, I can watch at least part of it live! Vamos Rafa!
Me too, I don’t have to get up in the middle of the night for his first match.
Let’s enjoy the match!
Welcome back, Rafa 🎾❤️
Was just thinking about Domi winning his first Slam at age 27. Checked on Rafa’s record at that age: had already won 13 G.S. titles including RG the first time playing it at age 18. Also two Davis Cups and an Olympic Gold medal.
Not to diminish Thiem’s accomplishment in any way. It is very tough to win a major but these stats show how just how exceptional Rafa is. It’s almost impossible to imagine any of the current young guns equalling his record.
I think about that a lot and he is still having an amazing career; he has more Slam titles coming his way.
Another thought I have is that the younger guys have the potential to stop current #1 from reaching 18. Let us hope they will accomplish that.
RAFA ROCKS
I like your thought👍
Best of luck Rafa. – VAMOS!! 🎾💪🏻🥰🍀
Woopee! Can’t wait to see Rafa back 👏🏻🤸😍🤩
Velkommen tilbage Rafantastic.
RAFA ROCKS
Tak, Margo! 🌻😁👍🏻 (You did well in danish)
RAFA TOTALLY ROCKS! 🎾💪🏻😍
I couldn’t believe what I was reading and didn’t triple check to see if the quote is true. According to EssentiallySports Djokovic had this to say about his
disqualification.
“I cannot promise or cannot guarantee that I will never ever do anything similar to that in my life. I’m going to try my best, obviously, but anything is possible in life,” Djokovic said. The Serb’s emotions exploded due to frustration, which he vented out by striking the ball. Unfortunately, it hit the lineswoman, causing chaos in the arena.
Obviously no self control.
On Roland-Garros
“Let’s see how it turns out. Rafa obviously decided to stay on clay and practice. Surely that gives him more advantage, but even if he didn’t practice for that long on clay he would still be the number one favorite in Roland Garros or any other clay tournament because he’s just Rafa,” Djokovic said.
Rafa and Stan’s matches are scheduled for tomorrow; the time of their matches are to be decided. I thought Rafa wouldn’t play before Wednesday but at least he had time to practice and acclimate to tournament conditions.
GOOD LUCK RAFA
Margo, I think Rafa will play on Wednesday.
That’s what I thought Mimi [my earlier post] but the tournament schedule has him on for tomorrow. However, I remember other past tournaments doing the same thing only to change his match for the following day. Why the heck do they do that? When he is playing I have to schedule my days around him.
Margo, I totally understand you have to schedule your days around him😄 Your earlier post is correct.
LOL Don’t be jealous 😉 but you know what hoops Rafa fans will jump through to see him. LOL
Yes, of course 😆
Love that emoji; it’s soooo funny.
Good luck Rafa. Stay confident in your quest for your next Décima.
Please post the time of Rafa’s match if you see it. I need U.S. time zones. The schedule still says Tuesday but most of the other matches are round 64. Go figure.
The official website is internazionalibnlditalia.com. It shows tomorrow’s revised OOP and the Rafa/PCB match is not scheduled.
Pauline, I went to your suggested website but couldn’t find the order of play. I found the draw. Went through all the drop-down menus and no OOP. And I don’t understand Italian. Any suggestions to help me out?
You said he’s not showing up on tomorrow’s OOP which is good for me but the website is totally incomprehensible to me. HELP
Margo,
On the upper right hand side on the website you can click on ENG to change language. On the left hand side click on tournament and the fourth item on the drop down menu is schedule. You can see tomorrow’s in PDF format. Hope that works for you.
Pauline THANK YOU molto grazie
I do like Stan so hopefully I can catch his match tomorrow because he’s still on the schedule.
I’ll tell ya that PDF is like something from the dark ages but for them I guess it works: perhaps easier to make changes is the only thing I can think of.
Thanks for the info Pauline.
You’re most welcome Margo and David. Glad you found the info useful.
Eager to see what time Rafa will play tomorrow. Hoping for a sunny afternoon match.
Tomorrow is forecast as sunny with a high temperature of 89F. It may be a little windy but knowing how professional Rafa is his rackets will be strung to balance out the various weather conditions he may encounter on court.
They have Raonic vs Mannarino playing today. I thought Rafa would be his first match.
Stan is playing today too.
I’ve been checking with Flashscore because it’s less of a hassle than that PDF nonsense. They have the female players together with the males and they don’t list all players for each day. That was as of yesterday as I didn’t check today.
RAFA ROCKS
Sorry guys, I’ve got marbles for brains today. Forgot Rafa is playing Carreno Busta tomorrow, not Raonic.
FYI to Margo: I didn’t mention the site you are now using to check the schedules as I don’t like to promote betting websites. Even if it is easier to navigate and if one never actually places a bet. That is just my sensibility but to each his own.
LOL Pauline. I had no idea. Now that I know….
[JOKING]
Good luck Rafa. We are all waiting to see you on the courts again. Stay safe.
In Dominic Thiem’s press conference he said that the experience of being in three previous slam finals hindered rather than helped him because he was very tight in the first two sets, thinking that if he lost he’d be 0-4 in finals. A very clear and honest interview..
Now a grand slam winner, I don’t think they will be asking Dominic to swap interview rooms to make way for Serena, so he won’t have to say “…what the hell….? I’m looking forward to seeing the message that he’ll no doubt receive from Rafa who must be delighted for him.
As with all Rafa fans, I can’t wait to see him bouncing around on court this week and I hope that the lack of match-play and the absence the crowd and of his family courtside will not affect him too much.
I am relieved there was no mention of an injury. The poor guy was just so nervous. Glad he didn’t have to call Andy about 0-4 which he joked about earlier.
What a great ending for the women’s and men’s finals in a very unconventional Slam.
Site Staff, kindly delete my Fan love sign in from this site.
Sorry Rafa, God bless you. sending you love and please know I will continue to cheer for you for as long as you play your beautiful tennis.