Italian Open: Rafael Nadal to make Rome return, Novak Djokovic handed tricky draw

Rafael Nadal. Pic/AFP

A record 10-time champion Rafael Nadal, who was drawn on Monday with a qualifier in the first round of the Italian Open, will start his bid for an 11th triumph in the Italian capital as he continues his comeback from injury on clay, as per ATP.

The 2024 Internazionali BNL d'Italia also known as Italian Open will be held from May 8 to 19 at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy.

At the clay-court ATP Masters 1000 in Rome, the Spanish great has been drawn in the same quarter as the second seed and 2023 champion Daniil Medvedev. If both players get to the quarter-finals at the Foro Italico, they will face each other.

Nadal, who has stated that this will be his final appearance at an event where he has a 69-8 record, will play a qualifier in his opening-round encounter in Italy. If he wins, he will face a tough second-round match against seventh-seed Hubert Hurkacz. It would be Nadal's first ATP Head-to-Head match with the Pole.

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Medvedev, who retired from his quarter-final in Rome last week, will face either Borna Coric or Jack Draper in his opening encounter. The 28-year-old had a spectacular journey to the trophy in Rome last year, winning his first tour-level clay triumph.

Medvedev and Nadal's probable semi-final opponents include Madrid champion Andrey Rublev, who will look to continue his good form when he faces Emil Ruusuvuori or Marcos Giron in his first encounter. The 26-year-old Rublev is seeded to face Monte-Carlo champion Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals, but he may have to first defeat a home favourite, Matteo Berrettini or Matteo Arnaldi, in round four.

The World No.1 Novak Djokovic will face Roman Safiullin or a qualifier in his first competitive match since Monte Carlo last month. The 36-year-old, a six-time Rome winner, is set to meet Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals. Serbia's Djokovic is two matches away from achieving his 1100th tour-level triumph.

Djokovic and Ruud's fellow Top 10 players, Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov, are also in the top half of the draw. The third-seeded Zverev, who defeated Djokovic in the title match at the Foro Italico in 2017, begins his campaign against Aleksandar Vukic or a qualifier. Dimitrov, the eighth seed and a past Rome semi-finalist, is drawn into an intriguing division alongside 11th seed Taylor Fritz and home favourites Lorenzo Musetti, Flavio Cobolli, and Fabio Fognini.

(With agency inputs)