Will Sinner's unexpected rest be a blessing in disguise for the Rome Open?

Jannik Sinner will aim to play next week at the Rome Open which begins on May 8 despite the fact that he has a hip injury which took him out of the latter half of the Madrid Open and he won't know likely till Sunday if he will play. But he has been given maximum time to recoup.

Sinner will not play until at least Saturday instead of his mooted Thursday start as the tournament aim to cling to their biggest name involved over the next few weeks at the Roland Garros pre-cursor. This will give Djokovic likely a start date of Wednesday. The bottom half of the draw will begin on Thursday.

But Sinner himself won't play until the weekend. He is set to train on Foro Italico tomorrow ahead of the draw on Monday and will assess his situation yet. So it could yet mean that Sinner's help could come back to bite the tournament if their second seed drops out. Rafael Nadal too as a protected ranking will also be one to watch in terms of rest depending on where he drops.