The most important clay court tournament of the season, outside of the Grand Slams, is returning to the beautiful capital city of Italy, Rome. The Italian Open, also known as the Rome Masters, is one of the most televised tennis tournaments around the world, and for a good reason.

With the whole of the Top 10 in attendance, and an upgrade to the competition raising it to the level of the Grand Slams and 2 US Masters events, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia isn’t a championship you wanna miss out on. Keep on reading to learn more about this event.

Italian Open Tennis Tournament

The Italian Open also called the Rome Masters and currently known as Internazionali BNL d’Italia for sponsorship reasons, is a clay court tennis tournament held in the heart of Italy, Rome. As a Tour-sanctioned event, the tournament is part of both WTA and ATP Tours as a Masters event, the highest tier of tennis competition, besides the Grand Slams. This year will mark a significant milestone in the event’s history as it will hold its 80th edition. It has also been upgraded to the level of the Miami and Indian Wells Masters events this year, with nearly double the usual number of participants.

With a venue set at the Foro Italico, this is one of the few remaining events played on clay courts. The title sponsor for the event is BNL, the 6th biggest bank in Italy which is a subsidiary of BNP Paribas, a bank that has sponsored many other tennis events.

Italian Open 2023 Results

In singles, The tennis player from Kazakhstan, Elena Rybakina, won the Italian Open title after his opponent Anhelina Kalinin retired three times due to injury. Elena won the 5th title in her career After the Italian Open 2023. -Bucarest 2019, Clay, International -Hobart 2020, Hard, International. -Wimbledon 2022, Grass, Grand Slam -Indian Wells 2023, Hard, WTA 1000 -Rome 2023, Clay, WTA 1000.

In doubles champion, Storm Sanders and Elise Mertens defeated no 1 seeded American pair Jessica Pegla and Coco Gauff in straight sets (6-4, 6-4). Storm Sanders won 2nd doubles title this season with different partners and Elise Mertens won the maiden title of the season.

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Italian Open History and Winners

The Italian Open, previously called the Italian Open Championships, held its inaugural edition 93 years ago in 1930. Back then, it was held in Milan at the Tennis Club. The tournament stayed in Milan for a year more years until 1934 as the following year the event moved to the Foro Italico in Rome, its current home. It would move one last time again, being held in Turin for the 1961 edition. Following the advent of the Open Era, the tournament was part of the Grand Priz Tennis Tour.

The woman’s competition was usually held alongside the men’s but in 1979, the woman’s competition was held 2 weeks prior. It shifted twice, once in Perugia for a  few years, then to Taranto. 1987 onwards, it has been held alongside the male competition. The most recent change to the event has to be its upgrade from a week-long event, to one played across 2 weeks, similar to the Indian Wells and Miami Masters.

Winners

The previous titlists list for this event is jam-packed with some of the best tennis players of all time. So many world no. 1s and Grand Slam champions have played and won at the Rome Masters. They include Althea Gibson, Evonne Goolagong, Margret Court, Shirley Brasher, Doris Hart, Maureen Connolly, Billie Jean King, Virginia Wade, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Serena Williams, Monica Seles, Kim Clijsters, Amelie Mauresmo, Maria Sharapova, and others. Chris Evert holds the record for most titles won at the event with 5, and a joint record with 2 other players for most consecutive wins with 2 titles.

Italian Open 2023 Prize Money

A total prize money sum of €3,572,618 has been announced for the 2023 edition of the Italian Open, which was an over €1 mil improvement as compared to last year’s prize money which was € 2,527,250. No official prize money breakdown has been announced by event organizers, so instead, we will be looking at the last edition’s distribution.

Keep in mind, there was no Round 4 in last year’s edition as this is before the event upgrade.

Italian Open 2023 Draw

The event will have 96 singles and 32 doubles draws that will be released as the tournament progresses. 12 qualifiers will join 84 singles main draw entries in 1st round.

Italian Open 2023 Dates, Schedule

The Italian Open WTA main draw will be held across 2 weeks from 9-20 May with a pre-qualifications round set from 2-5 May, and qualifications round to take place on the 8th.

The official schedule for the WTA section of the Rome Masters is as follows:

Keep in mind the schedule may be subject to change.

Italian Open Tennis 2023 Players list

As expected of a Masters event, the player’s line-up in Rome will create some of the best levels of competitiveness ever seen in tennis events. The impressive line-up is saturated with top players from around the world and this includes the entirety of the Top 10 and many more players in the Top 100. Leading the singles competition is the 2022 WTA Player of the Year that completely dominated the Tour last year, Iga Swiatek. She is followed by the recent Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.

Other notable players that will be playing include Coco Gauff, Alize Cornet, Emma Raducanu, home-favorite Martina Trevisan, Bianca Endreescu, Qinwen Zheng, and many more. Players like former no. 3 Sofia Kenin and former no. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenlova have also been given direct entry into the main draw through secured ranking. Iga Swiatek will return as the defending champion to possibly win her third consecutive title, but last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur is sure to prove a strong opposition. The full player list is as follows:

WTA Italian Open Top Seed Players

Italian Open Tennis 2023 Tickets

A standard single session ticket applies for one day/evening session, and each day of the event is split into 2 sessions, except for during the pre-qualifications round, the training sessions on the 6th and 7th, and 21 May.

• Buy Tickets Online Via Viagogo

Besides the single session tickets, 2 packages are also available that cover multiple days of the event. One package covers 10-day time sessions from 8-17 May while the second gives much more coverage, applying for both sessions from 10-21 May. Tickets for the main draw start from €16.50. Corporate hospitality is also provided.