ATP: Zverev and Thiem have to fight local heroes in Rome

In the singles, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem have a day to catch their breath at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome. In doubles, the two will play against each other on Tuesday.

The combination of Dominic Thiem and Steve Johnson in the double grid at the Italian Open would be interesting in itself (especially the story of how this pairing came about), but Thiem’s appearance on Tuesday (second match after 11:00 am on Court 3) gets a special spice from the gentlemen on the other side of the net: These will be the Zverev brothers, who have a pretty good idea why they play together.

Only two days after the clear success of Germany’s number one against Austria’s Zverev and Thiem are facing each other, in the singles the two will enter the competition only on Wednesday. Zverev, defending champion in Rome, then faces Matteo Berretini, Thiem Fabio Fognini.

The Italian veteran apparently wanted to go home to his wife and child on Monday evening; he had fiddled Gael Monfils 6:3 and 6:1 in 53 minutes. Berretini, on the other hand, who came into the main field with a wildcard, won somewhat surprisingly against Frances Tiafoe, also in two sets.

That Madrid champion Zverev will not lose to Berretini seems to be a foregone conclusion in the form in which the 21-year-old Hamburg native finds himself. The one year older Italian is ranked 103rd in the world rankings, most recently losing to the eternal Mikhail Youzhny in qualifying for Madrid.

Fognini, on the other hand, will also go into the match with Thiem without much certainty of victory: Twice they have played against each other, Thiem has won all four sets, Fognini has not played more than three games.

The latter is also represented in the doubles, alongside Simone Bolelli, with whom he has already won the Australian Open. Fognini/Bolelli will play Leonardo Mayer and his Argentinian compatriot Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday as their last match on the Pietrangeli. If the weather’s fine. The predictions for Rome on Tuesday are rather pessimistic.

Here the single tableau of the men in Rome

Here is the double tableau of the men in Rome