Who will Novak Djokovic play Madrid Open Round 2? Italian star Matteo Arnaldi
Yesterday at 06:59 AM
After plenty of waiting, Novak Djokovic is finally set to get his Madrid Open campaign underway.
There is plenty at stake for the Serbian in the Spanish capital, as he looks to win his fourth title at the Masters 1000 event – and finally capture his 100th career ATP Tour title.
Djokovic is in Madrid Open action for the first time since 2022 and will take to the court to start his campaign on Saturday after receiving a round-one bye.
And, the fourth seed now knows he will face Matteo Arnaldi in his first match, with the world No 44 fending off qualifier Borna Coric in the opening round.
Arnaldi has been part of a significant Italian surge on the ATP Tour in recent years, though he struggled at points in 2025 – can he challenge Djokovic when they meet this weekend?
Career highlights
Arnaldi made his ATP Tour debut in May 2022 thanks to a wildcard at the Italian Open, and has slowly been working his way towards the upper echelons of the game since then.
His first significant breakthrough came at the US Open in 2023, reaching the fourth round on his event debut before falling to top seed and reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz.
The 24-year-old also reached the second week of Roland Garros in 2024, beating both 29th seed Arthur Fils and sixth seed Andrey Rublev before a loss to ninth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Later in 2024, he would reach his first Masters 1000 semi-final at the Canadian Open, beating the likes of Karen Khachanov and Kei Nishikori ahead of an eventual defeat to Rublev.
His run in Canada propelled him to a career-high of world No 30 last August, with 2024 proving to be the best season of his career to date.
Arnaldi is yet to reach an ATP Tour final but has won six titles across the Challenger and Futures tours, and has recorded four top-10 wins.
The first top-10 win of his career was the biggest win he has achieved by ranking, stunning world No 4 Casper Ruud in the second round of the Madrid Open in 2023.
He went on to beat world No 10 Taylor Fritz at the Mexican Open in 2024, before victories over Rublev at Roland Garros and again in Indian Wells this spring.
2025 so far
Arnaldi’s win over Rublev in Indian Wells was undoubtedly impressive, though it has been a challenging season for the 24-year-old outside of that.
Including his win over Coric on Thursday, the Italian has a 9-9 record for 2025, and has only achieved back-to-back wins on three occasions.
Arnaldi’s best run came as the fourth seed in Delray Beach, beating both Learner Tien and Brandon Nakashima before a semi-final loss to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
However, after reaching round three of Indian Wells, a second-round loss to Tomas Machac in Miami kickstarted a run of three straight defeats.
His clay season began with a round-one exit to Richard Gasquet at the Monte Carlo Masters, and he then tasted defeat to Sebastian Korda at the Barcelona Open.
Arnaldi’s 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 triumph over Coric inside the Caja Magica was his first victory in over a month, and his first of the 2025 clay-court season.
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First meeting
An opening match against Arnaldi will represent a new challenge for Djokovic, with the two having never met before on the ATP Tour.
It will be the 37-year-old’s first match since a disappointing start to his clay-court season at the Monte Carlo Masters, where he was beaten in straight sets by Alejandro Tabilo.
The Serbian has not played in Madrid since his dramatic semi-final loss to Carlos Alcaraz back in 2022, though he lifted the title in 2011, 2016, and 2019.
Djokovic and Arnaldi are set to do battle on Saturday.
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