2025 Italian Open Rome ATP Entry List: Sinner, Djokovic, Alcaraz & Others

The 2025 Italian Open, scheduled for May 7th to 18th, has one particularly notable inclusion on its entry list.

Jannik Sinner has been suspended since February 9th after settling his controversial and high-profile doping case with the World Anti-Doping Agency. That ban will be lifted on May 4th, a few days before the Italian Open begins.

While some do not think Sinner deserved to be punished for being accidentally contaminated with clostebol by his physiotherapist at the time, others questioned the ban's timing, which means the world No. 1 did not miss his home Masters 1000 event or any Grand Slams.

The eyes of the tennis world will be firmly focused on Sinner when he returns in Rome. Tournament organizers are aware of that and are already taking measures to ensure he gets adequate privacy.

Although clay has not been Sinner's best surface since the start of his career, former ATP player Gilles Simon is among those who expect him to hit the ground running and perform well from the beginning of his comeback.

It will be interesting to observe how Sinner's return impacts other players in the draw. Carlos Alcaraz recently admitted that his rival's absence and the possibility of overtaking him as the world's No. 1 negatively affected his game.

Alcaraz has only made one previous appearance at the Italian Open, losing in the third round in 2023. He missed last year's iteration with a forearm injury that troubled him at clay court tournaments before the 2024 French Open.

Sinner and Alcaraz's last meeting on clay was an epic five-set battle at last year's French Open. Picking a winner seemed difficult until Sinner began to physically struggle in the deciding set.

Novak Djokovic is also on the Italian Open entry list. He has committed to playing at all three Masters 1000 events, a change from recent years when he decided to take some time to rest and recover.

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Alcaraz and Djokovic played a practice set in Monte-Carlo to prepare for the tournament. The 24-time Grand Slam champion led 5-4 after nine high-quality games before the pair decided to stop there.

Alexander Zverev is the defending Italian Open champion. He might be relieved to return to a successful venue after a challenging last few months since losing the 2025 Australian Open, although the German has a chance to build momentum before next month's event.

Jack Draper will look to build on his excellent start to 2025. The 2025 Indian Wells Open champion reached a career-high ranking of No. 6 this week, and could rise further since he is not defending many points from last year's clay court swing.

Some may be surprised that two-time French Open runner-up Casper Ruud enters this year's swing on the dirt having never won a Masters 1000 title on clay. The Norwegian will have another opportunity to change that unless he wins in either Monte-Carlo or Madrid before then.

Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Andrey Rublev, and Matteo Berrettini are some of the other names on the 2025 Italian Open entry list.

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2025 Italian Open Rome ATP Players Entry List: