TENNIS – All the Fab Four players Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal lead the star-studded draw of the Internazionali d’Italia at the Foro Italico in Rome, the fifth Master 1000 Tournament of the year. Nine of the top-ten feature in the impressive line-up of the Rome tournaments which starts on Monday. Diego Sampaolo
The Draw of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia took place in the beautiful backdrop of the Foro Italico in Rome. Italian tennis players Sara Errani and Luca Vanni and Italian legends Lea Pericoli and Nicola Pietrangeli attended the Draw Ceremony.
Novak Djokovic will be bidding to win his fourth title and defend his win from last year. After skipping Madrid to recharge his batteries after a very successful start to his 2015 campaign, Djokovic will be looking to clinch his fifth title of the year after the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte-Carlo.
The World Number 1 will start in the second round against either Nicolas Almagro, who won 12 clay titles in his career or Italian wild card Luca Vanni, who finished runner-up in his first ever ATP final earlier this year in Sao Paulo.
Djokovic is on a collision course for a possible blockbuster quarter final against Kei Nishikori (semifinalist in Madrid this year) who will start against Latvian Ernests Gulbis (who is looking to win his second match for a very disappointing year) or young Czech rising star Jiri Vesely and may face either Nick Kyrgios or Bernard Tomic in the third round.
Djokovic is on collision course for a possible semifinal against Andy Murray, who won his first clay title last week in Munich. The Dunblane star will start his Rome campaign against either Jeremy Chardy or Lukas Rosol and may face Jo Wilfred Tsonga in the third round. Murray may clash against David Ferrer in the quarter finals. The Valencia native will play in the second round against Richard Gasquet, who won in Estoril last week, or a qualifier. If Ferrer beats the Frenchman, he may face either Martin Klizan or Marin Cilic.
Roger Federer, who confirmed that he will play in Rome after losing in the second round against Nick Kyrgios in Madrid, will open against Pablo Cuevas or Paolo Lorenzi. If he clashes against Cuevas, he could renew his battle against the player from Uruguay in a re-match of the recent Istanbul final won by the Swiss Maestro after a very tight second set tie-break.
Federer, who never won in Rome (one of his only two Master 1000 trophies missing from his cabinet) but finished runner-up in 2003 (against Felix Mantilla) and against Rafa Nadal in 2006 (after an epic five-hour match).
Federer could clash against Kevin Anderson in the third round and either Tomas Berdych or Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter finals. Berdych is in impressive form this year. He reached three finals in Doha, Rotterdam and Monte-Carlo. He lost to David Ferrer in Doha, to Stan Wawrinka in Rotterdam and to Novak Djokovic in Monte-Carlo but he showed his good form reaching his second consecutive semifinal at the Australian Open (after breaking a 17-losing streak against Rafa Nadal in the quarter finals) and more semifinals in Dubai, Miami and Madrid and the quarter finals in Indian Wells. Berdych will start against Santiago Giraldo or Italian wildcard Matteo Donati before clashing against either Fabio Fognini or Grigor Dimitrov. The Italian could face the Bulgarian for the third consecutive Master 1000 Tournament after Monte-Carlo and Madrid.
In the same half with Federer and Berdych there is Rafa Nadal, who will be bidding to win his 8th title at the Foro Italico. Nadal will open against Adrain Mannarino or a qualifier. He is on collision course for a possible quarter final against Stan Wawrinka, who lost to Dimitrov in the third round in Madrid. Nadal and Wawrinka have not met since the 2014 Australian Open Final.. Their last clash on clay dates back to the 2013 Roland Garros
The first round features some exciting matches like Us Open champion Marin Cilic vs Guillermo Garcia Lopez (winner in Bucharest), Feiciano Lopez vs Nick Kyrgios (who beat Roger Federer in the second round in Madrid after an exciting tie-brea), Jo Wilfred Tsonga vs Sam Querrey, Kevin Anderson vs Florian Mayer, Simone Bolelli vs Dominic Thiem and Fabio Fognini vs Steve Johnson.
