Week 38: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic will come back in Rome!

After the end of the lockdowns and the resumption of the season, tennis never stops! In fact, after the US Open, the men's and women's Tours will come back in Europe for the clay-season, this year exceptionally in September and much shorter than the normal seasons.

From 14 to 20 September 2020 there will be the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, a combined ATP / WTA event on the Rome clay-courts. It will be an ATP Masters 1000 for men and a WTA Premier 5 for women. There will be many protagonists from the US Open, ready to compete in Italy for a tournament that does not include the presence of the crowd.

After seven months of absence, Rafael Nadal will come back on the court and he will face Pablo Carreno Busta, semifinalist at the US Open and awarded with a special exempt in his first round. Seeding number two could find Milos Raonic in the third round and one between Diego Schwartzman and Andrey Rublev in the quarter-finals. The leader of the draw Novak Djokovic is not doing too much better, fresh from the surreal experience in the New York bubble, where he could find in the order Felix Auger-Aliassime and Stan Wawrinka.

Italian number one Matteo Berrettini is the fourth seed in the main draw and, after a bye, could cross a qualifier or Jan-Lennard Struff. There will also be Kei Nishikori, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Grigor Dimitrov, David Goffin, Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils. Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Andy Murray will not be taking part in the Italian eveent.

Italian Open from 14 to 20 September 2020

In the women's draw, Serena Williams has decided to skip the tournament. Simona Halep, on a collision course with one between Anastasija Sevastova and Jasmine Paolini in the second round, will lead the seeding of the first, true, luxury event on clay-courts. In the top-half great first round match between Viktoria Azarenka and Venus Williams, should the US Open finalist decide to participate in the Italian Premier.

The first rounds between Garbine Muguruza and Sloane Stephens, and Angelique Kerber and Katerina Siniakova are also fascinating in the same portion of the draw. In the bottom-half Elina Svitolina is on the same side as Karolina Pliskova, Alison Riske and Elise Mertens. There will also be Sofia Kenin, Johanna Konta, Cori Gauff, Petra Martic, Amanda Anisimova, Marketa Vondrousova, Dayana Yastremska and Kiki Bertens, Out, as well as Serena Williams, also Ashleigh Barty and the US Open champion Naomi Osaka.

That week there will also be the Iași Open, ATP Challenger event in Romania, on clay-courts, from 14 to 20 September 2020.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2ZEhTKy