Italian Open announce schedule change after rain delay: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic update

Roger Federer was due to open play on Court Centrale against Joao Sousa at 10am BST.

But rain from early in the morning has not subsided and meant that by 1.30pm, play still had not started.

In light of the congestion caused by the rain, officials have attempted to spread the matches around in a bid to get as many matches as possible played.

The matches on Centrale remain unchanged but won’t start before 2pm.

It means Novak Djokovic, who is not due on Centrale until after 6.30pm, faces a battle to get his match against Denis Shapovalov played.

On Grandstand, Dominic Thiem’s clash Fernando Verdasco has been swapped with Amanda Anisimova vs Kiki Bertens while David Goffin vs Juan Martin del Potro, which was due to be the last match has been moved to Pietrangeli.

Taylor Fritz vs Kei Nishikori has been moved from Pietrangeli to Court while Mihaela Buzarnescu vs Julia Goerges is now on Court 6.

Seven doubles matches have been cancelled but Bob and Mike Bryan vs Karen Khachanov and Marc Lopez remain.

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source: express.co.uk