Andy Murray turns the big 3-0 on Monday, a cause for celebration throughout the tennis world. But to Murray, the nice, round birthday won't mean much. Don't misinterpret: The Scot isn't down in the dumps about saying goodbye to his 20s. He's just never been that into birthdays. “I was talking to my team about that a bit yesterday, and everyone sort of says, 'Oh, when you're 30 or 40, they are huge birthdays.' I have never found that with any birthday,” Murray said during his pre-tournament press conference in Rome on Sunday. Part of the reason: Murray has been away from home for the past 15 of them. The last time he remembers being near his loved ones for...
Main draw action kicked off on Sunday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, with home favourite Fabio Fognini among the four players moving into the second round. Fognini needed just 70 minutes to advance past wild card and fellow Italian Matteo Berrettini 6-1, 6-3. His reward is a second-round battle with top seed Andy Murray. The World No. 1 leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 3-2 and has won their past two matches. John Isner caused the upset of the day by defeating 14th seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-1. Isner served twice to stay in the match in the second set before breezing through to the win. He’ll next play Florian Mayer or qualifier Thiago Monteiro. Fernando Verdasco...
Clay-Court Circuit Continues In Rome: The fifth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event of the year is in Rome, where 17 of the Top 20 players in the Emirates ATP Rankings will descend. The Internazionali BNL d'Italia first took place in 1930 and has been held every year since 1950. Seven-time champion Rafael Nadal looks for another title in Rome and is joined by fellow former winners Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Murray is the top seed, with Djokovic seeded second, Stan Wawrinka third and Nadal fourth. 10 THINGS TO KNOW IN ROME 1) Title Trio: Murray, Djokovic and Nadal return to Rome, where they have combined for the past 12 titles here. Including Roger Federer, the Big Four has won 36...
Top seed Andy Murray could face another early challenge from a #NextGenATP star at next week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia. After falling to 20-year-old Croatian Borna Coric in Madrid this week, Murray is seeded to meet in-form German Alexander Zverev, the leader of the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, in the third round. The Rome draw has also thrown up brutal first-round clashes: Juan Martin del Potro, playing just his second match of the clay season, faces 10th seed Grigor Dimitrov. Nick Kyrgios and Roberto Bautista Agut, the two highest-ranked players not to be seeded, will do battle. And 39-year-old Tommy Haas plays 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in the oldest-combined match since Vina del Mar in 1982, when Ricardo Cano (30) defeated...
