Sinner makes history in Madrid, Kostyuk's ‘controversial' win, Rome Preview/Predictions

Jannik Sinner makes more ATP 1000 history becoming the first man to win five consecutive Masters title following his dominant win vs Alexander Zverev. It seems like more people talked about Zverev's post-match press conference which some Alcaraz fans were unhappy with. Marta Kostyuk claimed her maiden WTA 1000 title with a straight sets win vs Mirra Andreeva. Some criticized Kostyuk's decision to not shake hands with Andreeva or directly acknowledge her in the trophy ceremony. I also break down the Rome draw which could bring some early challenges for both top seeds Sabalenka and Sinner.

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As I predicted, Yannick Center won himself a record fifth consecutive ATP Masters 1000 title on Sunday when he destroyed Alexander Zverev 6'1-6-2 in the Madrid Open Final. Lasting just 57 minutes, the match was entirely one-way traffic in Yannick's favor. More was said about Zverev's post-match press conference comments than the actual match itself, with some fans taking issue with the Germans saying there's a gap between center and the entire rest of the field, including Carlos Alcaraz. I'll give my take on those comments as well as Marta Kosak's Madrid win, which kind of ignited some interesting online discourse itself. And of course, I'll preview the final clay 1000 before Rolling Arrows, the Italian Open, both the men's and women's draws. Ciao, Mikiama Christian Bass Night e Benvenuti a la Christian's Court, where I cover tennis from all angles. If you have not yet already, make sure you subscribe and click that notification bell so you're notified whenever I post more tennis content. Of course, yesterday Yannick Center won Madrid, and in winning the title, he became the only man ever to win the first ATP 1000 titles of the season. And he's also the only man to win five 1000s in a row dating back to the Paris Indoor Masters from last year. And center, he's now on a streak of winning 28 straight matches at the 1000 level, and he's just lost two sets in that span, which is just unbelievable. And he's now three wins shy of matching Novak's record or win streak at one at the 1000 level of 31. This was now his ninth consecutive win over Alexander Zverev, and eight of those nine matches were straight set victories for center. And looking at why he dominated Zverev in this matchup particular here in Madrid, Alexander's biggest weapon, his serve, was not one at all in this match. He didn't really serve poorly. I mean, he had a high first serve percentage, 77% first serves in, but he only won 52% of his first serve points, which is not going to cut it at all. And Zverev's placement on his serving was not that great. And he didn't win many free or easy points behind his serve at all. And he was able to get some shorter replies from Yannick, but he butchered a lot of them. And his serve plus one was very, very poor. And it was reflective of just his overall poor form. He missed way too many short or mid-court balls, even on the backhand. And of course, Zverev's backhand is his best shot, but it was horrible yesterday. And I don't know if he was worried about Yannick's defense of why he was trying to do too much with the approach shot sometimes, or just he wasn't confident in his net game, or maybe he was just off, period. But I think the poor start of Zverev losing his opening two service games really hurt him. And I think he just struggled mentally after that, didn't have any type of momentum. And the three-love game from him was horrible. He flubbed some really easy put away shots, and he finished the match with nine winners, 15 unforced airs. I feel like they were a little bit generous with that 15 unforced air stat, but it was in like Zerv himself said, it was an absolutely terrible match from him. And really, this entire match felt like it was in Yannick's entire control. Alexander never made Yannick feel any type of stress when Yannick himself was serving, and Zverev didn't generate any break points for himself, nor did he push any of Yannick's serves games to dues. And it was just overall a really poor returning day for the Germ from the German. And it's also unfortunate for Alex that Yannick happened to have his best serving day of the tournament in this match. It was his highest first serve percentage match of the week or the entire tournament at 74% first serves in. And he only dropped two total points behind his first serve this match. And not only did Yannick hit a high percentage of first serves, but he hit his spots very, very well on his serve. It was hard for Zverev to touch a lot of them. He hit eight aces, Yannick did. And Center just wasn't giving Alex Harley any freebies. He finished with 19 winners, five unforced airs. Again, I caught centers beat beating Zverev in the final before the entire tournament started, so I'm not surprised, but I'm still very impressed with this performance in particular. And I'm just overall impressed by Yannick and him being able to go from very different conditions in all of these 1000 tournaments and still having this much success and really dominating because again, he's only dropped two sets. But still, even though he's only dropped two sets, that takes a toll, playing that many matches in a row, especially with the two-week 1000 tournaments in Madrid now, too. Um, in addition to the Sunshine double stretch, that's a lot. But Yannick said that he's physically good and that he sees no reason not to play Rome. So looking forward to see him go for a sixth straight 1000 title there, which is again insane. But with the victory, Yannick now extends his lead as world number one over the injured Carlos Alcaraz by 1,390 points, and the gap will likely widen even larger after Rome and Roland Guerros. And there's an even larger gap though between the number two, Carlos Alcadaz and Zverev, who sits at number three, as right now that gap is 7,155 points. And that's why I find it interesting that in his post-match press conference, Zverev said there's not only a gap between center and the rest of the field, but that there's a separate gap between Carlos himself and Novak Djokovic and the rest of the field. Zverev's full comments read, I think there's a big gap between center and everybody else. And I think there's a big gap between Alkaraz, myself, maybe Novak, and everybody else. I think there's two gaps right now. But now the question is, why does Zverev think that he's essentially on the same level as Alcaraz when there's a 7,000-plus point gap between the two? First, I think, you know, Zverev has a track record of having delusions of grandeur, in my opinion, sometimes. But also, as someone pointed out, Zverev formally said that there is a gap between Yannick and Carlos and the rest of the field. So this is definitely a different statement here. But in my opinion, I think that Zverev feels like he's closer in love with Alcadas because, for one, the head-to-head between the two is tighter, it's 7-6 in Alcaraz's favor compared to centers 10 and 4 head-to-head record. And again, Zverev has not beaten Yannick in nine meetings, and he also has not won a set against Yannick in their last six meetings. Meanwhile, with Alcatraz, he came close, pretty close, to beating Carlos at the Australian Open in the semifinals there, even though Carlos was kind of struggling a little bit physically in that match, but still. But playing Devil's Advocate, I think when you're Zverev and you're getting thrashed like this consistently by one player, in this case Yannick, then you kind of put them on a pedestal. But I still think it's disrespectful to Carlos for Zverev to say this. I also disagree with Alex, implying that there's a gap between Yannick and Carlos. Yannick has won his last two matches with Carlos in straight sets, yes. Although they both were very tight. And still Carlos leads the head-to-head 10 to 7. Right now, obviously Yannick has the edge, but I feel like they take turns as far as them having the edge, which is why it's them and then everyone else down there below them. Simple as that. I honestly just think the comments are silly. I like I understand where he's coming from, but I also think that the Alcadasz fans have every right to, I guess, take offense. But I feel like Carlos, I wonder how what he thinks about that. But, anyways, thinking about the Madrid men's tournament as a whole, I think it was a disappointing anticlimatic finish to an otherwise exciting tournament that featured a lot of fresh faces and young players do well. Of course, Rafa Hodar was the biggest star with him being Spanish, but also cannot forget about the 21-year-old Alexander Bloch, the Belgian sensation. He went around further and made the semifinals. He beat three top 20 players in a row in straight sets, mind you. So I think he's definitely gonna be here to stay. And he rises, I think, over 30 spots to a new career high of 36 in the world, just a few spots behind Hodar, I believe. So great to see him do something. And even aside from that, there are a few qualifiers like Daniel Merrida, uh Dino Prismich, and also Nikolai Boudkov Kerr, Daniel Vallejo, they did well in making the third round. Another young player, kind of forget he's still pretty young, but 21-year-old Arthur Fees, he made yet another Masters 1000 semifinal after, you know, obviously that long layoff, so great for him. Not the result he wanted against Yannick coming short in straight sets, but still I think that'll be a learning lesson for him. Now moving over to the woman's side of things. Marta Kostrack, she claimed her maiden WT 1000 title when she defeated Mira Andreva 6375 in Madrid. This is by far the biggest title of Marta's career. It's her third title overall. And now she extends her win streak to 12-0 as she won the Ruin 250 title just before Madrid. So she's clearly playing the best tennis of her life, and she's rewarded with a new career high ranking of 15 in the world. And Marta said earlier in the year that her main goal was to crack top 10. I definitely think that she'll do that, especially if she continues this level that she showed so far in the clay season. But I think Marta definitely was the better player throughout much of the match, and she deserved to win. And I felt like she was in control for better or worse. Mira, I think she did a better job of being more aggressive in the second set compared to the first. I think she only hit one total winner in the opening set alone. But in the second set, she did well to recover from an early break deficit and went up 3-1. And she had her chances, even though she wasn't able to keep that 3-1 break lead. She had two set points at 5-4 when Marta was serving to stay in it. Although the first set point she had, she's going to be disappointed because she kind of fumbled a sitter, not a sitter, but a second serve to her strongest shot, the backhand. The second one, really nothing she could have done. Marta hit a great serve, an ace wide, and she was able to hold with some other strong serving. But Marta serve, speaking of that, it's been a great weapon for her the entire tournament. She returned well too. And I think she'd broken in 68% of her return games coming into the final, which is exceptional. The forehand also has been a massive asset for Kost Juck this fortnight. And I'm really not surprised at all that she won this tournament after she beat Pagula, because I just felt like she was on a mission. And also, in addition to the other aspects of her game that I just mentioned, Kost Juck's athleticism is really up there among the best. And she proved it this week with her excellent defensive skills and court coverage. And I think Clay for sure is her best surface. Now, Marta's winning kind of opened my eyes to just how many people aren't too fond of her. I hate to say something so negative, but I have to be real. Um, I saw some people saying that she scanned the title and that she is declassing the 1000s, and I definitely disagree with that. I think Marta's always been a solid top 20, top 30 player, at least in the past few seasons. And I think she really has elevated herself this season. She struggled a lot early summer of last year, where she won on a six-match losing streak, including first-round exits at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, but she's now playing her best tennis for sure. And I think other than her loss to Elsa Jackmont at the Australian Open this year, where she sprained her ankle, mind you, Marta has only lost to either Arina Sablanko or Alana Robacana, the two best women on tour. I mean, also she didn't play the Middle East Wing due to that ankle injury, but when we have seen her play, for the most part, it's been great tennis, top 10-level tennis. And it's also easy to forget that Marta herself, like Mira, was a child prodigy. I remember when she reached the third round at the Australian Open, I think in what 2018 as a 15-year-old. And I think she did struggle with the expectations of so many eyes being on her. But I think now she's not even a late bloomer. She's literally 23 years old. She's still young, literally my age. So I think now the sky's the limit for her. And can she build on this and perhaps go a step further and win a slam? That's gonna be a little bit of a harder ask, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if she did. But going back to the earlier conversation of people not being too fond of Marta, kind of looking at reasons why I think that testosterone comment towards the end of last year that she made about Savalenka and Shiantek definitely rubbed fans the wrong way. Also, the whole Ukraine war and her not shaking hands with Russian or Belarusian athletes. People are still upset about that. They don't like that. Also, there were a few complaints that Marta did not like really acknowledge Mira by name during her on court speech, and she rather just thanked her opponents in general this week for pushing her, and she also did not take a picture with Mira after the match, which was also to be expected because she did literally the exact same thing with Sabalenka at the Brisbane Final this year. So I again don't really understand why we're so surprised. But I think some people believe that Marta should just get over it and let bygones be bygones. I think that's a very ignorant take in my opinion because if you're not Ukrainian, you have no room to judge. That's their personal opinion and beliefs on it, and I totally respect them for doing how they feel. And I think overall, people have a large lack of empathy regarding the whole war situation. Just let it be. You know what I mean? Let Ukrainians do it how they feel best. You're not going through it, they're going through it. They're dealing with the their their country being war-torn. And it's tough on them, obviously. But Marta, she said that she's really only shaking hands with Daria Kazikina because even though Anastasia Potopova changed nationalities like Kazakhina did, she felt that I guess Potopova didn't do as much to denounce the war that Kazakhina did. And I mean, you gotta just respect that. That's what I feel about it. But, anyways, congratulations to Marta and her team. Also great to see two women or female coaches in the finals with Conchita and Marta's coach Sandra. So, overall, great tournament on the woman's side as well. And great to see the likes of Haley Baptiste and Mira as well do well. So, women's tennis is still in a great spot. And I think overall it's nice that we had a little bit of a change from Sabalenka and Robakina kind of dominating everything low-key. Briefly talking about Mira, I mean, it was kind of a tough weekend for her because she not only lost the singles final, but she fell in the doubles final. She and Deanna Schneider lost to Taylor Townsend and Katarina Sinyakova 7662 in the final here in Madrid. And really, Townsend and Sinyakova are going on a center-like run because they also won the Sunshine Double. So that's three 1,000 titles in a row. And congratulations too to Katarina as she returns back to world number one in women's doubles. Now, transitioning to Rome and looking at the draw, it's gonna be a challenging one, I think, for the top seed center in Sabalenka. First, starting with Sabalenka's draw on the woman's side overall, Arena, she could start against a fellow major champion, Barbora Krechikova. And this is actually Barbora's first tournament since a three-month layoff due to a left thigh injury. So great to see her back. Hopefully, she plays and doesn't retire or back out uh last minute. But Sabalenka, she could face Tirana Curset in the third round, which I think could be really challenging. So could Clara Towson and Linda Noskova, and they're kind of similar in terms of their styles of play, both Towson and Noskova are too. You also have some Ukrainians, Olinikova and Yastremska, there, who could cause problems for either Towson or Noskova, but I think that Noskova would come through and face Sabinka in that hypothetical fourth round match. Like I said again, Sablenka, this draw or section is not the easiest, but knowing that she has not lost before the quarterfinals at any tournament since February 2025, you've got to be foolish to bet against her here, losing in the earlier stages. So I'm gonna be having Sabalenka come through to reach the quarterfinals. Next is Amanda Anisimova section, and Amanda has actually not played since Miami due to a wrist issue. And this is her first tournament since splitting with Henrique Vleish Howers, who's now working with Lois Boso, who's actually at the top of this section and will open against Sengyakova. But it's a bit of a brutal comeback tournament for Anisimova, in my opinion. She could open against Yelena Ostapenko, then potentially Chinwin Jung, who made the semifinals last year here in Rome. Although Anna Bondar and the opening round for Jang could be tricky, but I think that Jang would beat Anna and Christina Bucsha to at least reach the third round stage. Belinda Benchic and Anna Kanskaya are projected to face off in the third round. Although we also have another interesting opening round match between two former Slam champions and Kennan and Andrescu. This will be the second time that they've played this clay season alone. Cannon won their Charleston match last month in straight sets. This is a pretty wide open section. I can see all the seeds except Booksha make it to the quarterfinals. I think Amanda, if she's healthy, I can for sure see her come through, but I'm just unsure about her. And like I said, her draw is tough. Austin Panko could maybe come through and go on a little bit of a run here. I feel like she enjoys Rome herself. So low-key, I could see her do something, but I think I'm gonna go ahead and just have Shenwen actually come through. I was pretty impressed with her form in Madrid when she pushed Rabakana to three tight sets. Last year's finalist Coco Goff is next, and I think Goff has a very good section. Yulia Putinseva might be her biggest threat in this entire section. And Coco is 3-0 against Putinseva on clay, although Yulia won their last match, which was at the 2024 Cincinnati Open. Emma Radokanu was back in action for her first tournament since Indian Wells, and she was dealing with an apparent illness. Coco and Emma could play in the third round, and their last meeting was actually here in Rome last year, where Coco dominated Radokanu 6'2 or 6'1, 6'2. We could also get the first ever installment of the golf Jovich rivalry, which could be interesting. Although I wouldn't be surprised at all if Lucia Bronzetti took down Yovic there in the second round. Marie Boskova is there. Initially seeing her name here, I was kind of confused why she was seeded so high for her standards at 24. Um, I don't really remember her doing too much at the big level, and she really hasn't. But she has two 250 level titles to her ranking, including one from Boca Ta earlier in the year, or last month actually. But I can see Marie move through here to face golf in the fourth round. But regardless of who she faces in that round of 16, I think Coco will move on to the quarterfinals. Mira Andreva section is next to observe, and up top there is the defending champion, Jasmine Paolini, who currently sits at 13 in the live rankings. Jasmine has had a pretty poor season so far. She's been 10 and 9, and she is in desperate need of a good run here. Although her section, it's okay, it could be worse. Jacqueline Christian, I think, could challenge her in the second round, as could Alisa Murdens in the third round. But overall, I think this is gonna be Andreva's section to lose just based on her form so far in the clay sweets clay swing. Now looking at the bottom half of the draw, Jessica Pagula's section honestly is very, very tough. Pagula herself has had success on clay so far this season, winning the title in Charleston. Lila Fernandez has been playing well lately and making the quarterfinals of Stuttgart and Madrid. Carolina Mujova, she's playing her first tournament since making the finals of Stuttgart. You have Lumbilla Simpson over there who really hasn't done too much. I can see her falling to Anne Lee in the second round there. Again, a really tight section for me to call. I think I'm gonna be putting Muhova through to the to the quarterfinals, honestly. I know I'm not really explaining my pick too much, but it's that tough for me to pick, to be totally honest. Next is three-time champion Igos Fiantec, who has a pretty so-so section. She will open against either Katie McNally or Daria Kazikina. I think she'll probably face off against McNally based on how well McNally played in Madrid. And McNally could cause her problems, I think. She was the only woman to take a set off of her and at Woman in last year. So I don't know if I see McNally doing her big one and taking Ega down, but I could see her taking another set from Fiontek. Iga has a shot of revenge in the third round as she could face off against Emma Navarro, who hasn't played since March due to health problems. Emma is going to be looking to get things back on track as it's been a pretty dismal start to her season, as she's currently riding a 4-8 record in 2026. I can see Elise Veta Cocheretto take down Navarro for sure there in the second round. Iga is projected to face either Naomi Osaka or Deanna Schneider in the fourth round. I don't really see Bolter or Lise cause Osaka too many problems. Martina Trevisan is there. I haven't really heard of her in a minute, and she's ranked outside the top 500 actually right now. Osaka Schneider will be really, really interesting. They've never played before, and I think I can see that one going either way, although I would give the slight edge maybe to Naomi in that one. But I think really right now, both of them have what it takes to be ega, considering how Iga is very much devoid of confidence right now. But initially I actually had Naomi win this entire section and be ega in the process. Um, but I still feel like Iga would be a bit stronger in this type of matchup on the slower clay here in Italy. Also, there are reports of Naomi going back to New York for the Met Gala today on Monday, which I think could hurt her traveling that much. I don't know. I know she does have a buy, but still that's low key a lot. But maybe she'll be just fine. But regardless, I'm putting Fiontek through to the quarterfinals. Seventh seed and Former champion Alina Svitilina is looking to rebound after a pretty early exit in Madrid. It's not an easy draw for the Ukrainian as Haley Baptiste lurks in the third round, and Baptiste has already beaten Svitalina this year in Miami. Yulia startup Sava, though, could cause problems for both Baptiste and her country woman Svitalina as Startup Sava reached the Charleston finals last month. Madison Keys looking down, she will start her red clay campaign, likely against compatriot Peyton Stearns, who actually beat her in Rome last year. This is a really important tournament for Peyton because she's now down to outside the top nine in the live rankings due to her semifinal run from last year. Vicky and Boco, she's here in this section too, and we could have a nice moment in the second round between her and another rising teen sister, Tyra Katerina Grant. So looking forward to potentially that matchup. Another tough section to pick, but I'm gonna play it safe and has Fitalina coming through here. Honestly, I think her biggest threat is Haley Baptiste. Although Mboko could do her big one too. I know she wasn't that impressive in Madrid, but I think the altitude might have hurt her, and Rome is where she could like kind of control it. But yeah, that's a wide open. Not wide open, but a tough one to call in that one. Then last but not least is 2023 champion Elena Robacina, who has a pretty decent section. She will likely open against Maria Salcry in the second round, followed by either Xing Yu Wong or Alexiala or Magdalena Freck in the third round. In the fourth round, she could face Alexandrova, Sarah Bailick, another Czech, Carolina Pushkova, who made the Madrid quarterfinals, or Montra Kostuk. Also can't forget about Jessica Budos Monero. I don't know if Kosuk will have enough energy to go on yet another deep run after winning both Ron and Madrid back to back. But like I said, she is fit and anything is possible. But as I've mentioned before, too, she's had a tough go at it against you know the likes of the Sal Blancas and Rabacana. She's already lost to Robacana twice this year, so I don't know. There are also some rumblings that Rabacana is feeling a bit under the weather here in Rome. So maybe that could open things up in this section, but still I think Elena will be fine enough to at least reach the quarterfinals. Running through my predictions, I think that we will see a Sal Blanca golf semifinal as well as Svidalina against Mujova. I have Coco coming through and beating both Sal Blanca and Svidalina to win the title. Really, I think it's between Coco and Arena to take this tournament. And the reason why I sided with Coco is because I just do think that the slower clay conditions would favor her. They met one time before here in Rome, and that was in 2021, although both were different players back then. But the all I say, I say all that to say I just think that the wrong conditions better suit Coco. And even though Coco hasn't really done much so far this clay this clay season, she was impressive to me at least in Madrid, even though she lost to Noscova. And I think if she had won that match, maybe she could have done something there. But regardless, I think this should have a strong run in Rome. Now looking at the men's side of things, Yannick's center section is interesting. He could open against Alex Mickelson, who tested him a little bit in Miami. Although Clay, I don't know if Mickelson has what it takes to truly trouble Yannick on the surface. The last man to have beaten Yannick, Jakob Menjik, could face him in the third round. Of course, Jakob has what it takes to beat Yannick. He did it in Doha, but I just think the revenge factor of Yannick not wanting to lose twice to the same guy will be heavy with him in his favor there. I think the biggest threat for Center, maybe in this entire tournament, is Arthur Feast. And I know, yes, Center swept aside Feast pretty handily in Madrid, but I think them facing off earlier in the tournament could hurt Yannick because typically with Yannick, he tends to do better as the tournament progresses, and he's a little bit more vulnerable in the earlier stages or earlier rounds of these types of tournaments. And if Feast is on his game, he could do his big one here. Francis Tiafo's here, he's back after skipping Madrid for an unknown reason. While I said that Feast maybe has a better shot, I still think it's gonna be a tall order, and I'm gonna be having Yannick move through to the quarterfinals. Next is Ben Shelton section, and it's a really kind of unpredictable and open section, being totally honest. I don't know if Ben totally likes the conditions in Rome. He's only won one single match here in his entire career. Rublev, meanwhile, he also has not made it past the fourth round yet this tournament since 2021. I don't know. I think I could see Alejandro Davidovich Falkina move through to the quarterfinals there. Felix Oje Aliceem section is also pretty open. We could have an interesting second round meeting between Felix and his compatriot, Dennis Shapovalov. Although I think Mariano Novone will deny that and beat Shapovalov in the first round. Joao Fonseca is Felix's projected third-round opponent, although you cannot overlook Hamad Mehdevich, the 22-year-old, is pretty solid himself on this surface, and he made the Barcelona semifinals losing to Rublev, so he could do his big one. I'm also wondering how Joao will handle the slightly slower clay in Rome. And I'm wondering the same with Valentin Vastrodo. Tomas Martin Edgevery could go on a little bit of a run himself, but I don't know, man. This is another one I'm just kind of throwing a dart at the wall. And I'ma say Valentin Vastrodo moves through. Next 2023 champion, Danil Medvedev, will have a pretty tricky opener in either Stefano Citipas or Tomas Mahaj. Then if Danil makes it through that match, he could face Quarantine Mute in the third round, who they've had a lot of edgy matches, Danil and Quarantine, at least in 2025. Flaudio Kaboli, he should come through his section based on how well he's been playing thus far and making the Munich finals and the Madrid quarterfinals. Although a few lefties and Terrence Ottoman and Cam Nori could pro could cause problems for him and that little part of the draw there. If I were to give a pick, I'd say Medi, even though his draw is tough, he always seems to play decent in Rome. Now looking at the bottom part of the draw or bottom half of the draw, Lorenzo Musetti's section is really, really, really tough. I can see all four seeds winning this one, or winning the section at least. There's Francisco Sarundolo, Casparude, who's looking to rebound after that unsuccessful Madrid title defense, and then Yuri Leheshka is down there, and Yuri has been playing well all season, and he just beat Musetti in Madrid. So potentially some revenge on the line for Lorenzo there. Musetti, I think I'll give him the edge. He made the semifinals here in Rome last year. He hasn't had the best clay season at all for his standards, so still looking for a good result. But I think this could be the tournament where he proves that he's still in the conversation for at least challenging for that runner-up trophy at Roland Garros. This is how it's looking right now. Below that, we see the return of six-time champion Novad Djokovic, who will be playing his first tournament since Indian Wells and his third tournament of 2026 overall. And I think this is a great draw for the Serbian. I think he has room to work his way into form after being out for quite some time. Karen Hatchinoff, his highest seed in this particular section, has not been great at all this season. I think he's like 8-10. So I think the biggest threats could be the Frenchmans in Arthur Rinnernesh or Ugo Umber. But I think I still expect Novak to kind of come through this section despite him not playing a lot of matches. But still, low-key, this is an open section considering how Novak has not played a lot. So, but moving down, Alex Demonor section, next to observe, and we could have a third-round rematch between Demonor and Rafa Hodar. And Hodar really demolished the offseed 3-1 in Madrid. Although Demonor, he could have a tricky second-round opponent in Mateo Alnaldi, who's pretty confident, I'm assuming, after he just took home the Cagliari, Cagliari, sorry, challenger title in Italy. But I think the winner of that hypothetical Demonor Hodar match will be the favorite to win this entire section. You also do have to be mindful of Nuno Borges being there as a potential second-round opponent for Hodar. Down there, I mean, I don't really see Bublik or Tien doing too much as far as going deep in the tournament. Tien is one and two so far on the clay. Bublick is two and three so far on clay this year. But I'm gonna be picking Hodar actually to come through here. I think it's gonna be a tough ass, though, with him winning Marrakesh and making the semifinals of Barcelona and Madrid in the quarterfinals of Madrid. But I think based on how well he's been playing so far, I can see him make another 1000 quarterfinal. Then lastly, looking at Zverev's section, the two-time champion on paper should be the favorite to not only win this section but reach the finals. But Alexander did say after his loss to Yannick that he's not feeling great at all physically, just from the amount of tennis he's played lately. And he was also dealing with a little bit of a back problem in Madrid, too. I think Alexander Bloch down there in the third round could get his revenge after, of course, Bloch lost to Zverev in the Madrid semifinals. You also have Tommy Paul up top of the section, who has made the semifinals in Madrid the last two years. So clearly he loves this event. Luciano Dardari is gonna look to wow the home crowd, although Hubert Herkoch could cause problems for him potentially in the second round. Actually, give me Paul to win this section and come through to make the quarterfinals. Running through my predictions because the only one I'm really very confident in is Yannick Center making the quarterfinals, which also kind of shows how wide open the men's draw or men's field is right now. But yeah, I'm gonna be having a all-Italian final between Yannick and Lorenzo with Musetti. I mean, with Yannick winning that one. That is all I have for this video. Let me know your thoughts on both Yannick and Marta's Madrid victories as well as the Rome draw. And let me know who you think will take both the titles there on both the women's and men's side. Also, let me know your thoughts on Zverev's comments about the whole gap thing. And yeah, make sure you subscribe and click the notification bell so you're notified whenever I post my Rome content. Thank you all so much for watching and for your support. I will see you all next time here on the Creation's Court.