Sinner-mania exploded in Rome: once the few days of rest after the triumph in Madrid were exhausted, the world No. 1 landed in the capital and took over the Capitoline scene. At the Italian Internationals the blue, great favorite on the eve given the absence of his great rival Carlos Alcaraz due to a wrist injury until further notice, will try to make history once again, trying to break other records in a Foro Italico which is increasingly changing its face, raising the bar of services and prestige to aim for the long-stated dream of the president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, Angelo Binaghi: to become the fifth Slam with the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.
Sinner chases Panatta, Djokovic and Nadal: the records he can break in Rome
In a season so far characterized by 30 victories and only 2 defeats, in Rome, Jannik Sinner aims to bring the men’s singles trophy back to Italy 50 years after Adriano Panatta’s triumph (last year Jasmine Paolini’s success came 40 years after that of Raffaella Reggi). On the table, however, there is not only “national” glory: by winning the Italian Internationals the South Tyrolean would also complete the so-called “Career Golden Masters”, i.e. the seal in all nine Masters 1000 (Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Montréal/Toronto, Cincinnati, Shanghai and Paris). Only one tennis player has achieved it in history, Novak Djokovic: the Serbian even completed it twice in 2018 and 2020. To give an idea of the scope of the feat, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have never managed to close the Masters circle in their careers: the Swiss lacks Monte Carlo and Rome, the Spaniard Miami, Paris and Shanghai.
Thanks to the absence of a clay specialist like his rival Alcaraz (who beat him in the final in both Rome and Paris last year) and the acquired awareness of his abilities on this surface, the student of Simone Vagnozzi and Darren Cahill can do theen plein of the European clay court season, putting his signature on the incredible Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros poker. A masterpiece created only once in the history of tennis, obviously by the king of clay, Rafael Nadal, in 2010. If Sinner were to succeed, there would only be one trophy missing to “close the game”: the gold medal at the Olympics, an event he has never participated in in his career.
The 160 million restyling for the Foro Italico: what changes
The “home” of the Internazionali, the Foro Italico, has undergone a restyling this year, the result of an investment of around 160 million euros. The tournament can now count on 21 fields spread over 20 hectares: 19 at the Foro and 2 at Lungotevere, to which is added the iconic one at Piazza del Popolo, the protagonist of some pre-qualification and training matches. The courts are concentrated around the three “main” ones, which remain the heart of the Capitoline Masters 1000: the Central Court, the new BNP Paribas Arena, which replaces what last year was the Grandstand Arena and which moves inside the Stadio dei Marmi with an increased capacity to over 7 thousand spectators, and finally the Super Tennis Arena, moved to the side of the Centrale, next to the former Youth Hostel.
The total capacity of the site guarantees a total of 12 thousand more spectators than last year. While waiting for the “new” power plant, work on which will start in June and will include the coverage, the much-needed roof. It will be a mobile protection of 1,800 square meters. Another 6,500 will be fixed and therefore the coverage, overall, will have an extension of 8,300 square meters and should be ready by the 2028 edition.
Fifth Slam in Italy: utopia or realistic hypothesis?
Improvements and investments aimed at giving prestige to the increasingly expanding Italian tennis movement also from an organizational point of view: our country, in fact, has been hosting the ATP Finals (the end-of-year event for men’s tennis) for years, the Davis Cup and from 2028 it has secured the license for a new ATP 250 on grass (the venue has not yet been made official).
In this regard, the president of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation, Angelo Binaghi, has been pursuing the idea of raising the Italian Internationals to the rank of fifth Slam for years. The objective is to insert the Roman event into the small elite circle that includes the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, a change that would rewrite over a century of world tennis traditions. In addition to tradition and the saturated calendar (a 10 Masters 1000 in Saudi Arabia will be added from 2028), Binaghi’s dream faces another major obstacle: the Foro Italico has little room to expand. But the president of the Federation is willing to sacrifice the marble statues of the iconic Pietrangeli field to set up a new club “in any part of the national territory and on any type of surface” as stated in a recent interview with the AP news agency, adding: “If our goal is excellence, we cannot remain tied exclusively to the Foro Italico, which suffers from serious critical issues linked to connections and temporary installations”.
