The Italian Open is the final ATP and WTA 1000 event before the 2025 French Open and it is usually a key indicator of what to expect at the clay-court Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
The joint-ATP-WTA event will once again be staged at Foro Italico in Rome in what will be the 82nd edition of the tournament in the Italian capital. The men’s and women’s tournaments were held separately before it became a combined event in 2011.
When does the 2025 Italian Open take place?
The women’s tournament will start on Tuesday, May 6 while the men’s competition gets underway a day later on May 7.
For the women, this is the second and final WTA 1000 event on clay after the Madrid Open while for the men it’s their third Masters 1000 event on the red dirt with the Monte Carlo Masters and Madrid Open preceding the Italian tournament on the ATP Tour calendar.
Please tell us more about the draw…
The draw for both the ATP and WTA events is set for Monday, May 5 with the ceremony set to kick off at 11:00 local time.
Both tournaments are 96-player singles draw events and the cut-off for direct entries via the respective rankings was 71 on the women’s side and 78 on the men’s side.
Five players have been handed wildcards for the ATP tournament and eight for the WTA event. Twelve players (both ATP and WTA) will earn entry into the main draw via qualifiers while a few have entered via their protected rankings.
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Who are IN and who are OUT at the 2025 Italian Open?
The biggest news ahead of the tournament is the return of world No 1 Jannik Sinner as it will be his first event back following his three-month suspension.
This will also be his first competitive event since he defeated Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open final on January 26.
For now, Carlos Alcaraz is also IN, but there are still doubts over the Spaniard’s fitness as he recently missed the Madrid Open due to a leg injury.
World No 6 Novak Djokovic is OUT as he has opted to skip the tournament in order to focus on the French Open.
On the WTA side, reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova is the biggest casualty as the world No 16 remains sidelined with a back injury.
The top 32 players in the current WTA Rankings have all entered while Grand Slam winners Emma Raducanu and Naomi Osaka’s positions in the rankings were good enough for direct entries.
Rising star Alex Eala just missed the cut-off as she is outside the top 70 in the WTA Rankings, but she is second on the alternate list after Caroline Dolehide.
American Dolehide has already been moved into the main draw after Krejcikova’s withdrawal so Eala is next on the list and should feature at the WTA 1000 event.
Who are the seeded players for the 2025 event?
The top 32 players in the world will be seeded for the event, but there is a difference in the systems being used by the ATP and WTA.
The ATP seedings will be based on the ATP Rankings from May 5 while the WTA seeds are based on April 21’s rankings, which means Coco Gauff will be seeded fourth even if she wins the Madrid Open.
Top 10 seeds for WTA event:
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Madison Keys, Jasmine Paolini, Mirra Andreeva, Zheng Qinwen, Paola Badosa and Emma Navarro.
Top 10 seeds for ATP event (based on Live Rankings):
Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Jack Draper, Alex de Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev.
What happened at the 2024 edition of the Italian Open?
Iga Swiatek won the second leg of her clay-court hat-trick as she followed up her Madrid Open title with the Italian Open crown before going on to win the 2024 French Open. She beat Aryna Sabalenka in the final to claim her third trophy in Rome.
In the men’s draw, Alexander Zverev won his second Italian Open title as he beat surprise finalist Nicolas Jarry in the final.
Defending champion Daniil Medvedev and six-time winner and top seed Novak Djokovic both lost early while Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz missed the tournament due to injury.
The post 2025 Italian Open: Will Jannik Sinner, Novak Djokovic, Emma Raducanu, Alex Eala play? Draw dates, top seeds… appeared first on Tennis365.
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