World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Rafael Nadal were scheduled to play the championship match of the 2012 Rome Masters on Sunday. However, their match will now be played on Monday due to weather conditions, according to ATPWorldTour.com:

Persistent rain in Rome means the highly anticipated final between Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will now be played Monday at 12noon CEST/6am EDT.

According to Weathernetwork.com's reports for Rome, Italy, rain is expected Sunday overnight and Monday morning. Monday afternoon is also expected to have scattered showers so perhaps Monday's match will be delayed even further.

There are times when a player could use a delay to rest and recover. However, I don't think either Nadal or Djokovic needed an extra day's rest in preparation as both players had reasonably straight forward draws to the final and both had plenty of pre-tournament rest following quick exits from Madrid.

At stake in the final is a coveted Masters title, 1000 ranking points—600 go to the runner-up—and in many people's eyes, the title of favorite heading into the 2012 French Open. Rain in the region also prevented ATP Nice from going through it's schedule on Sunday.