Ahead of the French Open, the tennis star will have one more Masters 1000 tournament to fight for in Rome. Jannik Sinner returns to the court after his three-month suspension, and he is set to remain at the top of the ATP rankings for Paris. However, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev have an interesting battle for the No. 2 spot.
Right now, the German, who is the defending champion at the Italian Open, is the World No. 2. But as he is set to defend his points, he needs to win the title if he wants to maintain his position in the rankings and hope that Alcaraz doesn’t reach the semifinals.
As Alcaraz missed the event last year, he doesn’t have to defend any points. If he reaches the semifinal, he is guaranteed to replace Zverev as the world No 2 once the tournament is over.
The Spaniard would earn 400 ranking points and hold 8,240 points should he reach the last four, with Zverev only able to hold a maximum of 8,085. If Alcaraz won the title, he would move to 8,840 points, or 8,490 if he finishes runner-up.
Both Zverev and Alcaraz have struggled to maintain their top form in recent events. The Spaniard, who had to miss Madrid due to an injury, won in Monte-Carlo, and he recently has said he feels confident ahead of Roland Garros. Meanwhile, Zverev, who lost the Australian Open final to Sinner, recently won in Munich.
Zverev says he is excited to return to Rome
While he is coming from a difficult loss in Madrid, in which he lost to Fran Cerúndolo, who was described as one of his toughest opponents, the German star has recently spoken about his poor performance during the season.
“It’s great to return to a tournament where I was the champion last year. I love competing here and hope to showcase the same level of tennis I displayed then,” Zverev told reporters in Rome. “But before the Munich tournament, my tennis was really poor, and I know why—I didn’t take a few weeks off after the Australian Open. That was a mistake because I ended up mentally burned out”.
Despite that, he feels “confident” for the Italian Open. “I really like the place, so I hope I can play as well as last year and win a lot of matches,” he said. Zverev is set to debut on Friday, May 9, against Jeremias Ugo Carabelli in the Round of 64 after receiving a ‘bye’ for the first round.