ATP InternazionaliBNL d’Italia is a clay court men’s tennis tournament slated for May 8-15 as an event succeeding the currently ongoing Madrid Open. It will feature some of the world’s best men’s tennis players, who will compete for the lion’s share of the 4,332,325€ prize pool and the ATP 1000 Masters title.
But even though Internazionali BNL d’Italia will be an exciting tournament to follow, it will also present plenty of excellent betting opportunities. And we will explore some of them in our free Tennis Betting preview, providing you with all the information you’ll need to make smart betting picks on the ATP Betting Odds.
Tennis Betting Preview for the 2022 ATP Italian Open (InternazionaliBNL d’Italia)
Players To Watch
- Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic enters InternazionaliBNL d’Italia as the no.1 seeded player and one of the main favorites to hoist the trophy. That makes a lot of sense for many reasons.
Djokovic is the current no.1 in the world and undeniably one of the best tennis players in history. Moreover, he already has five Italian Open titles under his belt from 2008, 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2020. And if that is not enough, Djokovic has also made finals in six of his last seven trips to Stadio del tennis di Roma.
The only year when Djokovic didn’t reach the finals was in 2018, when he lost against the eventual champion, Rafael Nadal (6-7, 3-6), in the semis.
Obviously, Djokovic likes to play at this venue; however, his past success doesn’t guarantee he will do well this year. Even though he remains the no.1 player in the world, Djokovic’s results in 2022 haven’t been too great.
In his defense, he hasn’t appeared in many matches due to the COVID vaccination drama. So we wouldn’t write him off entirely, but we would also be careful not to overrate his chances of winning his sixth Italian Open title.
- Rafael Nadal
At 35-years-of-age, Rafael Nadal is playing some of the best tennis we’ve seen from him. He kicked off the season with a victory in Melbourne; then, he added an Australian Open title and another tournament victory in Mexico.
At Indian Wells, Nadal couldn’t emulate that success, but he still reached the finals, meaning the Spaniard has not placed worse than second so far this season.
And besides his incredible form, Nadal also holds 10 Italian Open titles and is the defending champion, having won his 10th title in 2021 with a 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 victory against Djokovic. Even more impressive is that it marked his third Italian Open title in his last four trips (2018, 2019, 2021).
So far, Nadal has been the clear best-performing tennis player of the season, and if he can keep the wind in his sails, he should be in the mix to win another Internazionali BNL d’Italia and cement himself as the most successful men’s tennis player of the tournament.
- Diego Schwartzman
Diego Schwartzman had a rough start to the season as he crashed out of the Australian Open in R2. However, the Argentine tennis star has since produced some excellent results.
He reached SF in Cordoba Open and made finals at Argentina Open and again at Rio Open in February. Schwartzman failed to produce much at Indian Wells and Miami Open, but he bounced back with a strong performance in Monte Carlo (QF) and Barcelona (SF).
His season so far has been filled with ups and downs, the most recent of which came in Madrid, where Schwartzman lost against Dimitrov in Round of 32. But while he has yet to find any serious traction, Schwartzman should do well in Italy, where he made the finals in 2020.
It’s also worth noting that Schwartzman is an excellent clay-court player. His 2022 record is 20-10, but he is 16-6 on clay and has a career average of 366-174 on the surface.
There’s a good reason why Schwartzman is not as big of a favorite as Djokovic and Nadal. But he is always a threat and an excellent longshot pick.