12th May 2025
Even though there is a tennis tournament being played in Rome this week, the show was stolen by the Vatican as a new pope was named. We’re all about tennis, though, so we’ll skip the Conclave and focus on what happened on the courts.
There was some really exciting tennis played, with a couple of players continuing to struggle—like Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Iga Swiatek. On the other hand, Jannik Sinner returned with a win, and Carlos Alcaraz won his first match in a while.
Keep reading to find out all the latest developments that unfolded in Madrid, both on and off the court, and what we can expect from Rome.
Jannik Sinner returns
There won’t be a champions corner this week as the event in Rome hasn’t concluded yet. What there will be is more Sinner, as the Italian made a triumphant comeback against Mariano Navone.
It wasn’t a perfect match from the Italian, but it was good enough, and he looked strong for a player that hasn’t competed in months. Time will tell how far he can go, but it’s good to have the number one player back.
Carlos Alcaraz returns with a win
The last time we saw Alcaraz play on a tennis court was back in Barcelona when he contested the final against Holger Rune. It was an ill-fated clash because he injured himself during it, causing him to miss the Madrid Open.
He returned in Rome and won his first match. It wasn’t a special display from Alcaraz, but he did what he had to do to win, and that’s all that matters. We’ll see if fans get a chance to see Sinner take on Alcaraz in the first week that they are both back on tour—it would be special.
Get off the struggle bus
Several big names came to Rome hoping to get off the struggle bus, but they haven’t been able to.
Rublev, who has lost seven of the last nine matches he played, lost again early in Rome. He faced Fabian Marozsan, who is a troublesome matchup for him, but overall, it hasn’t been a good time for the Russian.
Tsitsipas is another player who lost early in Rome, and much like Rublev, he too is staring at dropping out of the top 20—which is quite shocking considering how consistently ranked they have been over the past five years.
Iga Swiatek also lost early in Rome, and her loss is possibly the biggest surprise because she was the defending champion. With the loss, Swiatek will drop to number four in the rankings, which is the lowest she’s been ranked in a really long time.
The last time she was ranked fourth or lower was back in March 2022—so over three years ago.
Tsitsipas and Fils exchange pleasantries
Arthur Fils and Tsitsipas had a bit of a conversation after their heated clash in Rome. Tsitsipas came out on fire initially, taking the opening set 6-2, but the Frenchman hung in there despite massively struggling.
Fils attempted to play his signature shot-making style but missed too much early; however, he did find the inspiration to turn the match around. The score was 6-4 in the second set, with the Frenchman easily winning the last one 6-2.
At the net, the duo exchanged a few words while shaking hands, but nothing came of it, as Fils admitted afterward that it was just a minor misunderstanding that they cleared up.
Kostyuk shakes hand of a Russian, kinda
Marta Kostyuk has been rather open about not shaking hands with Russian players per the instructions of the Ukrainian tennis federation, but she did shake hands with Daria Kasatkina after beating her in Rome.
Why? Well, Kasatkina has been playing under the flag of Australia as of the last month or so. Another big reason why it happened is because Kasatkina has been outspoken against the war in Ukraine, which is something that Kostyuk clearly hasn’t forgotten.
Sinner confirms he didn’t want to accept deal
Jannik Sinner spoke after his return to the court and admitted that he didn’t want to accept the WADA deal that he ultimately ended up taking, but he was convinced otherwise. He confirmed it’s something he wants to put behind him and get ready for Roland-Garros.
Coming up this week
Since the Italian Open hasn’t concluded yet, there will be more of that in the coming days as we slowly but surely head toward the conclusion of the final ATP 1000 Masters event on clay. The only big clay tournament after this one is Roland-Garros, and it’s not that far off either, with action kicking off in less than two weeks time.
