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Rome Masters: Overview

ROME - MAY 20: Jelena Jankovic of Serbia & Montenegro plays a forehand in her match against Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the final during the WTA Masters Series at Foro Italico on May 20, 2007 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

The gladiators of the tennis courts will make their annual pilgrimage to Rome in May 2008 to fight it out on the clay courts of the Foro Italico, in the heart of ‘The Eternal City’.

Initially known as the Italian Open, the event was played in Milan from its inception in 1930 to 1934. It then moved to its present venue, the Foro Italico, and became an open event in 1969.

The Rome Masters or the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is effectively two separate tournaments.

  • The Masters Series Rome is part of the ATP Masters Series, the men’s tour, and will take place in Rome from 3 to11 May 2008.
  • It is closely followed by the Telecom Italia Masters, the ladies’ event and one of 10 WTA tournaments which take place throughout the world, but primarily in Europe and North America. It falls into the Tier 1 category, the highest of four tiers which make up the women’s tour. In 2008 the Telecom Italia Masters will take place at the Foro Italico from 11 to18 May.

This highly anticipated Rome Masters is the second European clay court event after the illustrious Monte Carlo Masters, and is viewed by many of the players as a suitable warm-up event for the coveted French Open Grand Slam competition.

In 2005 the Rome Masters was the recipient of the ATP award of ’Excellence for Best Fan Experience’.

Rome Masters Odds

As with so many of the clay court championships, the Rome Masters has basically been decided by specialist clay court players like Rafael Nadal, who has won the last three successive titles, and Conchita Martinez, who won four successive titles in Rome in the early 1990s.

Thomas Muster, Gustavo Kuerten and Juan-Carlos Ferrero have all had success in Rome, and all are considered clay court specialists. Spaniards are known to be particularly successful on the red clay of Europe, chiefly because there is a high prevalence of clay courts in Spain and Latin America, and have learnt their trade on clay. Since 1997 the men’s event has been won seven times by Spaniards!

Interestingly enough there have been very few women tennis players whose best results have been confined exclusively to clay. Perhaps Justine Henin could be classified as a clay court specialist as she has won the French Open four times and of her 39 singles wins, 12 have been on clay. Oddly enough her best result at the Rome Masters was runner-up to Serena Williams in 2002.

The ladies’ event is up for grabs. There has been no one dominant player since Conchita Martinez in the 1990s or more lately, Amelie Mauresmo who took the title in 2004 and 2005.

Rafael Nadal, however, looks set to win a fourth consecutive title in 2008.

For live tennis betting we use William Hill, one of the world's largest betting companies.