<p>Here's how the tournament works, what markets Sportsbet offers, and what actually matters when you're sizing up a bet on Rome.</p><p>The Italian Open, officially the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, runs in Rome every May and pulls in nearly every top player on both tours.</p><p>It's <strong>an ATP Masters 1000 and WTA 1000 combined event</strong>, held on the red clay of the Foro Italico, and it's the final serious test before the French Open.</p><p>For Australian punters, it's also one of the more interesting clay tournaments to bet on, because the scheduling, surface, and tight turnaround before Paris all play havoc with form.</p><p>This guide covers the basics of the tournament, how the betting markets typically work, and what to look at before having a punt on Rome.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>What is the Italian Open?</h2><p>The Italian Open is one of nine ATP Masters 1000 events on the men's calendar and one of the WTA 1000 events on the women's side.</p><p>Winning it carries 1,000 ranking points, the same as every other Masters 1000, which puts it <strong>a tier below the four Grand Slams</strong> but ahead of every regular ATP and WTA tour stop.</p><p>The 2026 edition is the 83rd running of the tournament, and it's scheduled for 28 April to 17 May 2026, with qualifying starting on 28 April and the main draw running from 5 to 17 May at the Foro Italico in Rome.</p><p>The tournament has a long history, dating back to 1930 when it was first held in Milan. It moved to Rome in 1935.</p><p>No edition was held between 1936 and 1949, but it has been played at the Foro Italico continuously since 1950.</p><p>Since 2023, the Italian Open has been a two-week event.</p><p>This is a significant change from the old one-week format, and it matters for anyone looking to bet on tennis.</p><p>More rest days between matches, longer time for injuries to heal or flare up, and more opportunity for players to find or lose form mid-tournament.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>When and Where is the Italian Open 2026?</h2><p>The 2026 Italian Open runs from Monday 28 April to Sunday 17 May, with the main draw beginning Tuesday 5 May at the Foro Italico.</p><p>The venue is a sports complex on the slopes of Monte Mario in Rome, built between 1928 and 1938.</p><p>It's one of the more atmospheric settings in tennis, with the main arena, <em>Campo Centrale</em>, surrounded by marble statues and flanked by the Stadio dei Marmi.</p><p>Fifteen courts in total are used for the tournament, with the three main show courts being the 10,500-seat Campo Centrale, the Grand Stand Arena, and the Stadio Nicola Pietrangeli.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>The Foro Italico and Clay Conditions</h3><p>Rome is played on outdoor European red clay, which is slower than hard courts and produces higher, heavier bounces.</p><p>Rallies run longer. Serve-and-volley tactics are mostly useless.</p><p>Players who grind and construct points tend to thrive, while big servers without the legs to back it up can struggle.</p><p>Weather plays a part too.</p><p>Rome in May can swing from warm and humid to cool and breezy, and rain delays are common enough that you'll see schedule disruption most years.</p><p>Humidity makes the ball heavier and slows the court further, which suits grinders over shot-makers.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Tournament Format and What's at Stake</h3><p>Both the men's and women's singles draws feature 96 players, with the top 32 seeds receiving a first-round bye.</p><p>Doubles runs 32 teams across the fortnight. Men's matches are best of three sets throughout, including the final, which is standard for Masters 1000 events outside the Grand Slams.</p><p>The tournament opens with qualifying, then the main draw rolls across roughly 12 days of play.</p><p>Finals weekend typically sees the women's singles final on the Saturday and the men's on the Sunday, with doubles finals scattered across both days.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Prize Money and Ranking Points</h3><ul><li>ATP champion: 1,000 ranking points and €985,030 in prize money based on 2025 figures</li><li>WTA champion: 1,000 ranking points and €877,390 based on 2025 figures</li><li>Total 2025 prize pool was €8.05m on the ATP side and €6.01m on the WTA side</li></ul><p>Those numbers matter because Rome sits directly before Roland Garros.</p><p>Players balancing rankings defence, prize money, and peak condition for a Grand Slam just a week later will often make strategic calls that affect the betting, and not always in the direction of maximum effort.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Italian Open History: The Kings and Queens of Rome</h2><p>Rafael Nadal is the greatest Italian Open player of all time and it's not particularly close.</p><p>He won the tournament 10 times between 2005 and 2021, a record no one has seriously threatened.</p><p>Novak Djokovic is next with six titles. Between them, they won the men's title 16 times in 20 years from 2005 to 2024.</p><p>The post-Nadal era has been more open. Daniil Medvedev broke through for his first clay title in 2023.</p><p>Alexander Zverev won the 2024 edition, beating Nicolás Jarry in the final.</p><p>Carlos Alcaraz took his first Rome crown in 2025, outplaying home favourite Jannik Sinner 7-6(5), 6-1 in a final that snapped Sinner's 26-match winning streak.</p><p>The women's event has been more varied.</p><p>Iga Świątek dominated on clay through 2021 to 2024, winning Rome three times in that window.</p><p>Jasmine Paolini became the first Italian woman to win the title in 40 years in 2025, ending a drought dating back to Raffaella Reggi in 1985.</p><p>She beat Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 in the final for the biggest title of her career.</p><p>Italian winners on home soil have been rare on the men's side.</p><p>Adriano Panatta in 1976 remains the last Italian man to lift the trophy, and Sinner couldn't break that drought in 2025.</p><p>The home crowd factor is real in Rome, but it hasn't often translated to titles for the locals.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Betting Markets for the Italian Open</h2><p>Sportsbet offers a wide range of markets across the fortnight in Rome. Here's what you're working with.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Outright Winner</h3><p>The most popular market before the tournament starts. You back a player to win the title.</p><p>These odds are set before the draw and adjust constantly as players win, lose, or withdraw.</p><p>Outrights on a 96-player draw give you plenty of options, from short-priced favourites like Sinner and Alcaraz to genuine longshots.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Match Winner</h3><p>The bread and butter of tennis betting.</p><p>You pick a player to win a specific match.</p><p>Clay courts tend to produce more upsets than hard courts because of the slower conditions and longer rallies, so match winner markets on Rome are often tighter than similar hard-court events.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Set Betting</h3><p>You predict the exact set score: 2-0 or 2-1 for the winning side.</p><p>This market usually offers higher odds than straight match winner because you're being specific about how it plays out.</p><p>It's popular when punters think a favourite will win but might drop a set, or when they're backing an underdog to at least take a set.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Handicap Markets</h3><p>Two main varieties here. Set handicap is straightforward: one player starts with a +1.5 or -1.5 set advantage.</p><p>Game handicap is where it gets interesting.</p><p>The favourite might start at -4.5 games, meaning they need to win by five or more games across the match.</p><p>Game handicaps can make uneven matchups more interesting to bet on.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Total Games</h3><p>You pick whether the match will go over or under a set line of total games played. A Sinner match might be set at 22.5 games, for instance.</p><p>Clay conditions tend to produce longer matches than hard courts, and extended rallies can push match totals higher even when the sets look one-sided.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>What to Consider When Betting on the Italian Open</h2><p>Form on clay is the starting point, but it's not the whole picture.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Clay Specialists vs Hard-Court Stars</h3><p>Some players are clay-court natives. Others are tolerating the surface on the way to grass. The gap can be stark.</p><p>A player ranked top five on hard courts might be a coin flip against a clay specialist ranked 50 spots lower when the match is at the Foro Italico.</p><p>It's always a good idea to check how players have been tracking through Monte Carlo, Barcelona, and Madrid before assuming their hard-court form transfers.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Schedule and Fatigue</h3><p>The two-week format helps, but players who went deep in Monte Carlo or Madrid sometimes arrive in Rome already running on fumes.</p><p>Watch for withdrawals, short press conferences, and suspicious early-round exits from players who clearly have their eyes on Paris.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>The Roland Garros Effect</h3><p>Rome ends on Sunday 17 May. The French Open main draw starts the following weekend.</p><p>Some players push hard in Rome as final French Open preparation. Others pull back, treating it as a tune-up rather than a target.</p><p>A player who's won Rome before might not fight as hard to repeat if they're saving fuel for a Grand Slam.</p><p>This is worth factoring into outright markets in particular.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Home Crowd</h3><p>Italian players get serious support at the Foro Italico. Sinner, Musetti, Paolini, and Cobolli all benefit from the home crowd. It's not always decisive, but it shows up in tight matches.</p><p>The flip side is the pressure: playing in front of home fans against a top player is a different kind of challenge, and some players handle it better than others.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Openings</h3><p>With 96 players and 32 byes, the draw shape matters a lot.</p><p>A player in a thin quarter with a favourable run to the semis is worth more on outright markets than a player with a similar ranking stuck behind two clay monsters.</p><p>When the draw comes out the weekend before play starts, that's when outright markets get interesting.</p><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Match-Up History and Style</h3><p>Head-to-head records on clay tell you more than overall H2H numbers.</p><p>A player might be 3-0 against someone on hard courts and 0-2 on clay. Style also matters. Counterpunchers do well on clay. Big servers without heavy groundstrokes can look ordinary.</p><p>A slow-conditions grinder can beat a higher-ranked player if the match-up suits them.</p><h2>&nbsp;</h2><h2>Australian Interest at the Italian Open</h2><p>Alex de Minaur is the top Aussie in Rome most years.</p><p>He reached the fourth round in both 2024 and 2025, marking the first time an Australian man had reached the round of 16 in Rome since Lleyton Hewitt made the semi-finals in 2000.</p><p>His 2024 run included a win over Felix Auger-Aliassime, and the campaign was notable for breaking a long drought for Australian men at this level.</p><p>De Minaur's clay game has improved year on year.</p><p>He's not a natural on the surface, and he's said as much himself, but his movement and consistency travel better to clay than most Australian players' games historically have.</p><p>He's worth watching in Rome, though outright odds for a non-clay specialist to win a Masters 1000 are rarely attractive.</p><p>Other Australians like Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin, Chris O'Connell, and Rinky Hijikata have appeared in the main draw in recent years.</p><p>None have gone deep. The Aussie contingent in Rome is usually about watching one or two players you know rather than expecting a deep run from the pack.</p>