Photo credit: Internazionali BNL d'Italia Facebook
Rome will roll out the red carpet to celebrate home hero Jannik Sinner's comeback.
World No. 1 Sinner's three-month suspension ended yesterday, May 4th, and he arrives in the Eternal City on a personal-record 21-match losing streak.
No. 3-seeded Carlos Alcaraz, the last man to beat Sinner, can only face the top-seeded Italian in the Rome final.
The Internazionali BNL d'Italia draw was conducted today.
It places Sinner at the top of the draw, while the third-seeded Alcaraz is in the bottom half of the draw.
Reigning Rome champion Alexander Zverev anchors the bottom half of the draw as No. 2 seed.
US Open champion Sinner has a first-round bye and will play either Argentinean Mariano Navone or Italian Federic Cina in his Rome opener.
Should seeds hold true to form, Sinner would face the following path to a maiden Rome final:
*Mariano Navone/Federic Cina winner *Round 3: Alejandro Davidovich Fokina *Round of 16: Francisco Cerundolo or Frances Tiafoe QF: Casper Ruud SF: Taylor Fritz or Alex de Minaur F: Alexander Zverev or Carlos Alcaraz
The Rome return will be Sinner's first match since he stomped Zverev to successfully defend his Australian Open title in January.
Solidifying his status as hard-court king, Sinner shredded Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 In the Australian Open final successfully defending his AO championship with command.
It was Sinner’s career-best 21st consecutive victory—he has not lost since bowing to Alcaraz in the Beijing final last fall—and his 21st straight Grand Slam hard-court victory.
Monte-Carlo champion Alcaraz pulled out of Madrid to rest and recover in preparation for Rome and his title defense at Roland Garros where he beat Sinner and Zverev back to back to capture his maiden Roland Garros crown last June.
Alcaraz has a first-round bye and could face this path to a final showdown vs. Sinner:
R2: Yoshihito Nishioka or Jan-Lennard Struff R3: Alex Michelsen Round of 16: Grigor Dimitrov QF: Jack Draper SF: Alexander Zverev F: Jannik Sinner
Six-time champion Novak Djokovic withdrew from Rome last week, without citing a reason for his departure. Djokovic's withdrawal leaves only two-time champion Zverev and 2023 champion Daniil Medvedev as the lone former Rome champions in the men's field.