The 2016 edition of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia tournament, the WTA’s tour stop in Rome, is ready for takeoff. This is a week with a Premier 5 tournament, following the Premier Mandatory event in Madrid. It’s a busy time of the season, with the top players trying to collect points and positioning before the French Open in a couple of weeks. Some players will try to get some work in the week before the French Open, but for most players, especially the contenders, this will be the last week of tennis before Roland Garros, so it’s a pretty big one.
The competition in the 56-player main draw begins on Monday, May 9.
Event Details
Event: Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Category: WTA Tour – Premier 5
Date: May 9 – 15, 2016
Location: Foro Italico – Rome, Italy
With a prize money allotment of $2 million, the 900-point tournament is a notch below the Premier Mandatory level. That’s a necessary function of creating a tiered structure with the mandatory events greatly eclipsing the Premier 5 events in overall value. It’s more a case of money, though, than points. The level of money is much greater at a Premier Mandatory event than at a Premier 5, more than double. The amount of points is a little different, but not hugely. Whereas the Premier Mandatory event is 1,000 points, this one’s only slightly less significant.
The points structure under the WTA system is that the championship means 900 points. A runner-up finish is worth 585. A semifinal result is 350 points, and a quarterfinal appearance offers 190 points. A round-of-16 results provides 105 points, a round-of-32 showing 60 points.
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2015 – Maria Sharapova def. Carla Suarez-Navarro – 4-6, 7-5, 6-1
2014 – Serena Williams def. Sara Errani – 6-3, 6-0
2013 – Serena Williams def. Victoria Azarenka – 6-1, 6-3
2012 – Maria Sharapova def. Li Na – 4-6, 6-4, 7-6
2011 – Maria Sharapova def. Samantha Stosur – 6-2, 6-4
Player Info:
Almost at the level of the Madrid event the week before, the Rome tournament presents a 56-player field. That’s the size for a Premier 5 tournament, whereas you normally see 64 at a Premier Mandatory event.
The big news at this tournament is that Serena Williams should play. She had the flu during the week of the Madrid tournament, so she wasn’t able to play. She has missed a lot of tournaments this year and has not been a very common presence on tour. This recalls many previous seasons in which injury or illness prevented her from taking the court as much as she would have liked to. She doesn’t need to win this tournament, but if she wants a realistic chance at Roland Garros, she needs to play at least three matches so that she can say she’s gotten some genuine practice and a chance to work on various aspects of her game. A quick and early loss would not do her any favors at all. She’s long past the point where rest is a need; now she needs to get some work in.
One concern in this tournament is that Victoria Azarenka, another contender for the French Open, is carrying a back injury into Rome. She withdrew in the middle of the Madrid tournament because of that. It’s something to keep an eye on.
The Foro Italico
The Foro Italico, which was formerly known as Foro Mussolini, was built at the order of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, and was completed in the 1930s. It’s not just a tennis facility, but a larger sports complex which houses many of the most important sports venues in Italy. The tennis center will be the focus of the festivities this week but it has also hosted many other important events, like the 1960 Summer Olympics. It is the home for a number of stadiums, including the Stadio Olimpico, Stadio dei Marmi and Stadio del Nuoto.
It was created under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and was later helped out with design by Luigi Moretti. Even though it was built so many years ago – now approaching nearly a decade – it is still viewed as one of the best pieces of architecture put together under the watch of Mussolini.
