Rafa Nadal will not have an easy start at the 1,000 Masters in Rome (May 9-16), as the Balearic could face Jannik Sinner in the second round, if the 19-year-old Italian and 18th in the world beats the French in the first round Ugo Humbert. The nine-time tournament champion also knows that if he reaches the quarterfinals, Alexander Zverev could wait for him again, who eliminated him at the same time at the Mutua Madrid Open on Friday.
If Nadal, who needs to win to be second-seeded at Roland Garros, advanced to the quarterfinals and outplayed the German, he could face Daniil Medvedev., his rival for that position, who will recover it this Monday. In the second round, the projection places Canadian Denis Shapovalov as a possible opponent from the Balearic Islands, who this Saturday relaxed with a swim on the coast of Mallorca, before leaving this Sunday for Rome.
Novak Djokovic, who returns to activity after giving up playing in the capital of Spain, goes to the top of the table and would only see Nadal in a hypothetical final. Your first opponent will be Daniel Evans or Taylor Fritz. in eighths he would play Grigor Dimitrov; in the quarterfinals, Stefanos Tsitsipas and in the semifinals, Domimic Thiem, because the possible crossings of the quarters according to the ranking would be Djokovic-Tsitsipas, Rublev-Thiem, Medvedev-Schwartzman and Zverev-Nadal.
The rest of Spaniards
As for the other Spaniards in the main draw, Roberto Bautista will debut against a player from the previous one on the side of Djokovic; Pablo Carreño, who is on the side of Nadal, will face Serbian Laslo Djere this Sunday around 1:00 p.m. In the qualification there are Alejandro Davidovich, Jaume Munar and Roberto Carballés, who face Flavio Cobolli, Hugo Dellien and Tennys Sandgren, respectively this Saturday.
Table of the 1000 Masters of Rome.