In Rome with an Italian number one in the world. It had never happened in the history of the Internationals that competing in the 1000 in the capital there was also an Italian capable of leading the ATP ranking.
It happens this year, for the 82nd edition, with the return to the field of Jannik Sinner after the three-month disqualification agreed with Wada. From here begins the hunt for a title that has been missing for almost fifty years. In fact, it has been a long time since an Italian won in Rome, because the last to succeed was Adriano Panatta in 1976, and then no one else.
"Playing the home tournament always creates expectations," says the president of Fitp, Angelo Binaghi, "But by winning the Finals in Turin with Sinner we have already broken the ice. And then in addition to Jannik we also have other arrows."
There will be eight Italians in the draw: in addition to the world number 1 there will also be Lorenzo Musetti (16), Matteo Berrettini (34), Flavio Cobolli (36), Matteo Arnaldi (40), Lorenzo Sonego (41), Luciano Darderi (48), Mattia Bellucci (66). To whom will be added the wild cards revealed today (Federico Cinà, Fabio Fognini, Luca Nardi and Francesco Passaro).
The representation among women is less numerous with only Jasmine Paolini (6) and Lucia Bronzetti (59) in the main draw, plus the wild cards assigned to Nuria Brancaccio, Elisabetta Cocciaretto, Sara Errani, Tyra Caterina Grant, Giorgia Pedone and Lucrezia Stefanini.
But all the best will be there to battle the Azzurri: from Zverev to Alcaraz, to Djokovic in the men's, not to mention Sabalenka, rather than Swiatek and Pegula in the women's. For this reason, during the presentation of the 2025 edition at the Eugenio Montale high school in Rome, there was repeated talk of "a record-breaking event".
Starting with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri, who together with the councilor Alessandro Onorato, confirmed the field in Piazza del Popolo again this year. The Foro Italico site, however, will also be completely renovated and expanded, extending up to the Stadio dei Marmi where three more fields will be built for a total of 21 (9 for competition and 12 for training). For this reason, the president of Sport and Health, Marco Mezzaroma, spoke of "a courageous vision" in redesigning the Foro Italico village, while the Minister for Sport and Youth, Andrea Abodi, defined the Internazionali as "an organizational excellence", regardless of whether it is the fifth slam or not because "by now the level is that".
And the hope, then, is that the numbers are also those of a Major. Now in its third year of upgrade with the tournament spread over two weeks, President Binaghi's expectations continue to grow, especially from the point of view of ticketing. "We want to get close to 400 thousand attendees," says the number one in Italian tennis, "and if Sinner had played these three months the advance sales would have been even better. But on the other hand we still have the certainty that by not playing in Madrid we won't be able to do as badly as last year, so we have the certainty of playing the Internationals with the world number 1 who is Italian." And if the economic impact on the territory of the Internationals according to the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, "last year was 600 million," this year "could be even higher."
Therefore Binaghi announces that he will use the revenue from foreign spectators to promote sports in schools through the projects of the federation which has also signed an agreement with the Institute for Sports and Cultural Credit for the construction of other facilities in the country.
(Online Union)