Italian Open 2023: Blockbuster schedule featuring Daniil Medvedev in Rome disrupted by rain on chaotic day

‘Il cielo è sereno,’ is not a phrase you will have heard frequently in Rome over the past fortnight.

The sky has certainly not been clear, and the daily assault of grey cloud and sporadic onslaught of rain has caused many a stop-start match to hamper the schedule for players and spectators alike.

Earlier in the tournament, Frances Tiafoe was one of the more outspoken players to complain about the dangers of playing in heavy rain and he made headlines for his outbursts during his third-round loss to Italian Lorenzo Musetti on Grandstand.

The American was not alone in conveying his concerns that the poor weather was not conducive to safe tennis and the inevitable rain delays have caused mayhem, with the penultimate day of the tournament no exception.

Straight away, drizzle meant there was a later start for Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev, and an even longer delay when a downpour caused the players to leave Campo Centrale with the first set locked at 4-4.

There were a couple of false alarms with announcements for a restart, and this led to whistles from those braving the stands with umbrellas and macs as the resumption was continually put back.

At 19:36 local time, cheers erupted as the players returned to court, but they had barely got up and running again when more rain forced them off just 15 minutes later.

That would be the last the players would see of daylight as the clock ticked down with three matches still on the Campo Centrale schedule.

This is not a new story when it comes to the European clay swing with many a tournament of yesteryear being similarly affected.

Rune completed his match hours in advance of the two players vying to be his opponent in Sunday’s ATP singles final, and he therefore immediately gains an advantage in terms of rest and recovery.

The WTA final provisionally set for 19.00 local time as the headline act for the night session was put in limbo as a result of the chaos with the weather. The women’s doubles final involving Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Storm Hunter and Elise Mertens had been pencilled in to be the finale of the night action on Campo Centrale.

Perhaps a roof will be installed at the Foro Italico for future editions. Its possible installation has been a hot topic in Italian tennis for a number of years, but progress has been slow, with the uncertainty of the pandemic blamed for the delays.

In May last year, Vito Cozzoli, the president of Sport e Salute – a public company that handles the development of sport in Italy – suggested a project to build a roof would be commissioned by July 2022, but despite whittling down a short-list of organisations bidding to complete the work, there is still no sign as of yet.

Sadly for Rome, the expansion of the tournament to a 96-player draw and more matches than ever before has come at a tough time with no roof and a shocking fortnight of weather that has led to a difficult 2023 edition of the competition.

Whether the late finish for Medvedev and Tsitsipas will have a big impact come Sunday’s men’s singles final remains to be seen.

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