Rome, Italy) – After missing the Madrid Masters 1000 for the past two weeks with an elbow injury, Novak Djokovic is back on the circuit for the Rome Masters 1000 dispute. Leader of the world rankings, the Serb is six times champion of the clay court tournament in the Italian capital and won the last edition of the event.

Djokovic awaits the winner of the match between Frenchman Luca Van Assche, 18, 85th in the standings, and Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry, 61st. The Serbian’s closest seed is Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who is waiting for the match between Stan Wawrinka and Ilya Ivashka. If you confirm your place in the round of 16, Australian Alex de Minaur and Briton Cameron Norrie are the possible rivals.

Djokovic’s quadrant still has the seventh ranked Holger Rune. The Dane makes his debut against a tennis player who has just qualified. In this sector of the group, the Briton Andy Murray and the Italian Fabio Fognini clash to challenge the Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic. Other names who could face the Serb in the quarter-finals are Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime and North American Sebastian Korda.

Still at the top of the table is world number 4 Casper Ruud. The Norwegian could face a qualified tennis player or the Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech. American Ben Shelton is a possible rival in the third round, while Tommy Paul can paint in the round of 16. 8-seeded Italian Jannik Sinner is also back and could face Spaniard Jaume Munar or a skilled tennis player. Sinner could face Karen Khachanov in the round of 16.

Here is the official @atptour men’s singles main draw

Make your predictions here👇🏻#IBI23 pic.twitter.com/1kOxnmUbUJ

— Internazionali BNL d’Italia (@InteBNLdItalia) May 8, 2023

Alcaraz has Tsitsipas and Medvedev on his side of the support
Vice-leader Carlos Alcaraz, from titles in Barcelona and Madrid, only has to step up the field to return to number 1. He is only five points behind Djokovic in the standings and the Serb defend the title. The 20-year-old Spaniard awaits the winner between Italy’s Francesco Passaro and Spain’s Albert Ramos, and could face 31-seeded Czech Jiri Lehecka in the third round. O sector at stake is the same as the Brazilian Thiago Monteiro, who makes his debut against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, and could face Croatian Borna Coric in a possible second round. In Madrid, Alcaraz and Coric met in the semi-finals.

The quadrant of Alcaraz also has the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, who awaits the winner between the Serbian Dusan Lajovic and the Portuguese Nuno Borges, with the possibility of a duel with Yoshihito Nishioka in the third phase or the Italian Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16 .

On the same side of the table are the Russians Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rulev. Third seed Medvedev awaits the winner between Emil Ruusuvuori and Ugo Humbert, with a chance to face either Alexander Zverev or Hubert Hurkacz in the round of 16. Rublev, on the other hand, could face Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round or American Taylor Fritz in the round of 16.