Jannik Sinner will arrive at the 2026 Internazionali BNL d’Italia as the clear favorite after the confirmed men’s singles entry list left Rome without its defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz.
The Italian Open draw will be made on Monday, May 4, with main-draw play scheduled from May 6 to 17 at the Foro Italico in Rome. The ATP Masters 1000 event is the final major clay-court stop before Roland Garros and will carry extra weight this year after Alcaraz was forced to end his European clay season early because of a wrist injury.
Alcaraz announced on April 24 that he would not compete in Rome or Roland Garros, saying medical tests had led his team to choose caution before deciding when he can return. The Spaniard had been the defending champion at both events, having defeated Sinner in last year’s Rome final before going on to win Roland Garros.
His absence changes the tone of the tournament before a ball is struck. Alcaraz has been Sinner’s most obvious clay-court obstacle over the past two seasons, and his withdrawal leaves the world No. 1 with a major opportunity to claim one of the few big clay titles missing from his résumé.
The men’s main draw will feature 96 players, made up of 79 direct entrants, 12 qualifiers and five wildcards. All five wildcards went to Italian players: Matteo Arnaldi, Gianluca Cadenasso, Federico Cina, Francesco Maestrelli and Luca Nardi.
Sinner heads the entry list, followed by Alexander Zverev, Novak Djokovic, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Ben Shelton. Alex de Minaur, Daniil Medvedev and Lorenzo Musetti round out the top eight, giving Italy two players among the tournament’s leading names.
There is still plenty of title pedigree in the field. Zverev has won Rome twice, in 2017 and 2024. Djokovic is a six-time champion at the Foro Italico, while Medvedev lifted the title in 2023.
The withdrawal list is also significant. Along with Alcaraz, Taylor Fritz, Jack Draper and Holger Rune have all pulled out of the event. Draper has not played since sustaining an injury in Barcelona, and Rome is not expected to be his return point.
For Sinner, the stakes are both emotional and practical. He enters as Italy’s leading player at Italy’s biggest tennis tournament, backed by a Foro Italico crowd that will expect him to contend for the title. He also has room to strengthen his position at the top of the rankings, with Alcaraz defending 1,000 points in Rome and 2,000 at Roland Garros while sitting 390 points behind Sinner.
Sinner has already carried his form deep into the clay season, reaching the Madrid Open final against Zverev and keeping alive his chase for a fifth consecutive Masters 1000 title after wins in Paris, Indian Wells, Miami and Monte Carlo.
With Alcaraz out, Zverev looks like the most dangerous challenger on clay in Rome. Djokovic remains impossible to dismiss at a tournament he has won six times, though questions remain about his rhythm on clay this season.
Musetti gives the home crowd another Italian contender, while Shelton, Auger-Aliassime and de Minaur bring different styles to a draw that no longer has its usual Sinner-Alcaraz center of gravity.
In a normal year, Rome might have been framed as another test of whether Sinner could get past Alcaraz on clay. This year, the question is different: whether anyone else in the field can stop Sinner from turning home pressure into a first Italian Open title.
