ATP Monte-Carlo Masters Best Bets
Favorites, top seeds, dark horses, and a stellar Round 2 match are on display
The tournament has a rich history dating back from 1897 and it is one of the 3 Masters Series events played on Clay before the culmination which is Roland Garros.
Rafael Nadal is the absolute king here, having won eight consecutive titles from 2005-2012, including 11 in total.
The tournament wasn’t played last year due to the COVID pandemic.
In the most recent event, Fabio Fognini took away the title in 2019 beating Nadal in the Quarterfinal and the surprising finalist Dusan Lajovic, who on other hand, beat Medvedev in the Semifinal.
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Favorites & Top Seeds
As always, the draw is packed with the best of the best. Except Thiеm and Federer, the eight other players in the top-10 are here and all 16 seeds are within the top-20 of the rankings.
Novak Djokovic is the top seed, while he continues to add to the record of weeks being No. 1 in the rankings. The event is without a No. 2 seed, as Daniil Medvedev tested positive for Covid-19 and was automatically withdrawn. His place was taken by Lucky Loser Londero who will begin directly from Round 2.
Stefanos Tsitsipas took care of business against Karatsev, who is by far the story of the year reaching Australian Open Semifinal in February. The Greek is, of course, considered a favorite every time he steps on the court. He has the luxury to be in the third round already while other players are still battling the rain and heavy conditions while competing in Round 1.
As previously mentioned, Nadal is the man to beat here, boosting an out of this world 73-5 record in this venue. He falls into Daniil Medvedev’s side of the draw, but would love to see a matchup between him and Rublev in the fourth round, that’s for sure. The Russian hasn’t stopped improving, and being part of the top-10 would be a good test for both of them.
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Dark Horses
It's really hard to pick underdogs and dark horses in such an even and packed draw as this one. I will be more interested to see what the finalists from the Miami Open, Hurkacz and Sinner, will do here. How will their transition go and can they improve on their already big accomplishment in the US?
Round 2 Matchup to Watch
Novak Djokovic – Jannik Sinner
This is by far the most intriguing match of the tournament and comes in R2. Sinner took care of business by dispatching Ramos-Vinolas in R1 in two sets and books a meeting with the world's No. 1. With that win, the 19-year-old Italian and Miami Open finalist will be making his debut in the top-20 in the live rankings, but his place is not certain at all, as there are major players alive in the tournament to overtake him.
This is Novak’s first tournament after catching his 18th Grand Slam title in Australia in February. He opted out to travel to Miami citing COVID concerns and stayed in Europe preparing for the clay court season. The Serbian won Monte Carlo in 2015 and since then wasn’t able to get through the quarter stage in four appearances all while Sinner is debuting in the event.
This is their first meeting, but the way Jannik has been rapidly progressing, we would sure see them competing against each other more often and in even deeper stages in tournaments.
