The 75th edition of the ‘Internazionali BNL d’Italia di Tennis‘, the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, is scheduled for May 7 to 20 at the Foro Italico, the historical stadium built for the Olympic Games of 1960.
Since 2011 the tournament is played combining men and women’s tournaments, resulting in two weeks of intense tennis. On the same day, the top names of this sport will confront each other in the Roman spring air – including Nadal, Djokovic, Del Potro, Wawrinka, Raonic, the defending champion Alexander Zverev, and Serena Williams – winner in Rome in 2002, 2013, 2014, and 2016, but on ‘maternity leave’ last year.
The qualifiers and 8 matches of the men’s main draw are scheduled for May 12 and 13, while the per-qualifiers will take place on May 5 in one of the squares that symbolizes the Italian capital, Piazza del Popolo. This the announcement of Angelo Binaghi, president of the Italian Tennis Federation, during the speech with which he presented the novelties of this year’s edition: “We owe the first real big news to the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi: for the first time from this year the pre-qualifiers for the Internazionali will start to be played in Piazza del Popolo.” Specifying that the square that more than any other represents the entrance to the capital will host games from 11 am to the late evening.
Moreover, Raggi, announced that soon the Center Court of Foro Italico will soon be covered, like the Wimbledon one: “We worked hard to unlock, as quickly as possible, all the procedures to give the Central Court a further opportunity to see the practice of this sport also at other times of the year.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett