The Rome Masters (officially named as Internazionali BNL d'Italia) is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour, and the women's competition being a Premier 5 event on the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) tour. The two events were combined in 2011. The tournament is played on clay courts, currently during the second week of May. The event was previously known as the Rome Masters and adopted its present name in 2002. Rafael Nadal has won the title a record six times.
The Italian tennis championship was first held in 1930 in Milan, where it was played until 1934 before being moved to the Foro Italico in Rome in 1935. No event was held between 1936 and 1949. The competition resumed in 1950. It became "open" to professional players in 1969. Between 1970 and 1989 it was a premier tournament of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour and was part of the Grand Prix Championship Series top tier events. In 1990 it became an ATP Championship Series Single Week tournament.
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“The French courage proceeds from vanity—the German from phlegm—the Turkish from fanaticism & opium—the Spanish from pride—the English from coolness—the Dutch from obstinacy—the Russian from insensibility—but the Italian from anger.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
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—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)