With the Madrid Open set for a fiery conclusion, the best tennis players in the world will make the trip over to the Italian capital to compete in the Rome Open. Well, most of the top players. There are some significant talents who will not be making the trip to Italy.

It is the third Masters 1000 on clay in 2026, the second on the WTA. It will take place from May 4-17 with a whole bunch of points along with the coveted title firmly on the line. As Roland Garros gets closer, it is a very crucial tournament and run-in to the second Grand Slam of the year where momentum is key and, above all, fitness and health are the priority, altering the view of the tournament for some players.

In total, 13 players have pulled out of the Rome Open on ATP and WTA sides combined.

The elephant in the room in Rome will be Carlos Alcaraz as he looks to recover from his wrist injury picked up at the Barcelona Open. The reigning champion has played his final match on clay in 2026 with long term health put above anything else, including a title defence. It opens the door significantly for world number one Jannik Sinner to romp towards the title unchallenged by his main rival.

The other big seed which will not be in action is Taylor Fritz. The American is yet to show his cards on clay as his injury woes catch up on him. After constantly playing a lot of tennis over these past couple of years, he is now suffering the consequences, although he is missing a period on a surface he is not very fond of.

Jack Draper's demise is a stark one. Now ranked world number 50, he will continue to lose points after picking up an untimely knee injury which prevented him from defending his final run in Madrid. Rome will also be sacrificed as his progress and his potential get halted once more due to injuries.

While his troubles continue, the end of the road seems close for Holger Rune after that devastating achilles injury. He was sidelined from October and predicted to be out until at least the US Open at best - around a 9-12 layoff. This does not seem to be the case, and while Rome is possibly a week or two too early, tennis fans do not have to wait long to see the 23-year-old back on court.

The two latest players to pull out are Reilly Opelka and Raphael Collignon. Arthur Cazaux, Kamil Majchrzak and Eliot Spizzirri will also be absent from Rome.

This is a shorter list. All top 40 players are scheduled to be competing in the Rome Open. You have to go down to former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova who continues her hiatus from the sport after off-court problems. Injuries have played their part, but recent events have seen her put tennis to the side.

British number two Sonay Kartal will also not appear. After reaching the fourth round of the Indian Wells, a back injury has blighted the progress of the 24-year-old. She has missed all the tournaments since that run in California, Rome being the latest. Varvara Gracheva and Veronika Kudermetova will also not be participating in the WTA 1000 tournament.