Rome, May 8, 2026, 15:14 CEST
Rain halted action at the Foro Italico on Friday, pushing back Alexander Zverev’s opening match at the Italian Open. The German was set to face Daniel Altmaier in the second round, but both men were stuck waiting on Campo Centrale. Play across all courts was suspended around 2 p.m. local, according to the ATP, with no matches to resume before 3:30 p.m. CEST.
The delay carries extra weight—Rome stands as one of the final big clay tournaments ahead of Roland Garros, and the draw isn’t doing Zverev any favors. In Friday’s tournament notes, the Rome matchup appeared as a second-round contest, with Zverev holding a 3-1 edge over Altmaier in their previous meetings.
The hold-up is jamming an already packed centre-court slate. Novak Djokovic, who’s chasing a seventh title in Rome, is set to play Croatian qualifier Dino Prizmic, but only once Zverev and Altmaier wrap up. More rain and the schedule could unravel fast, pushing matches late into the day.
Altmaier had to dig deep for this one. Down 3-5, 15/40 in the second set, the world No. 64 stared down two match points on his serve and held both, then clawed past Zhang Zhizhen 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. That’s his first ATP Masters 1000 victory this season; Masters 1000 events rank just below the Grand Slams on the ATP calendar.
Zverev heads into Rome as the No. 2 seed and the player with the weightier stats. ATP media counts give him a 26-8 mark this season, and a 27-7 record on the Roman clay, highlighted by titles in both 2017 and 2024. According to their notes, he’s 19-5 at ATP Masters 1000 tournaments since Paris; each of those five losses has come at the hands of Jannik Sinner.
Zverev’s clay season keeps circling back to Sinner. After the 6-1, 6-2 drubbing by Sinner in the Madrid final on Sunday, the German admitted, “Playing against Sinner right now is just so hard. He leaves us no chance.” Reuters
Manuel Traquete at Last Word on Tennis sees Zverev heading for a routine win over Altmaier, writing he has “no reason” not to go deep again at a tournament he’s lifted twice before. The preview also pointed out that Zverev has posted three semifinals and a final across the first four Masters 1000 stops in 2026. Last Word On Sports
Sky Sports highlighted Daniel Altmaier taking on Alexander Zverev in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, flagging the all-German clash—one of the tournament’s headline matchups—on its live tennis page.
This isn’t just a throwaway match on the slate. Altmaier actually took down Zverev earlier this year in Acapulco. ATP notes point out he’s still looking for a first Rome third round—he scraped through his opener, fending off two match points. A win over the No. 2 seed would put Altmaier in rare company: nobody’s knocked out a top-two seed in Rome’s first round since Fabio Fognini did it back in 2017.
Zverev’s main concern? Rhythm. Rain interruptions can kill early momentum, and Altmaier, judging from how he fought his way into the match, won’t mind a drawn-out grind. Not great news for anyone hoping to bounce straight back after that lopsided Madrid final.
The rest of the field circles this same patch of weather. Djokovic’s back on court, Sinner’s chasing that elusive Rome trophy for his Masters set, and Zverev’s out to make a statement on clay—all crammed into this two-week stretch. But for now, just one thing: waiting for the rain to stop so Zverev and Altmaier can finally start.
