Monte Carlo Masters Overview
The Monte Carlo Rolex Masters is the first of the three clay court Masters events this season. Rafael Nadal had a stranglehold on this event from 2005 to 2012. Nadal has still been in the mix towards the end, but has failed to get past the semifinals since 2012. The last three years have seen Novak Djokovic win twice and Stan Wawrinka surprise with the title in 2014. Djokovic enters the tournament as the top seed and defending champion. He edged Tomas Berdych 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the 2015 Monte Carlo final.
The past five years have seen a few early upsets of seeded players, but they have been mostly tame with the top seeds rarely being taken down in their first match. Last year, just one seed lost their first match. That was a bit off of the normal mode of operation with at least three seeds losing their first matches in each of the previous three seasons in Monte Carlo.
For the most part, seeds are the name of the game when the tournament winds down. In the last five years, just one semifinal slot has been taken by an unseeded player. That came in 2013 when Fabio Fognini crashed the party. The highest seed to make a semifinal since 2011 is the number 14. That came in 2015 with Gael Monfils tallying big wins over Alexandr Dolgopolov, Roger Federer and Grigor Dimitrov on his way to the semifinals. The sixth seed has been sprinkled with magic dust recently with the number six getting to the semifinals or better in each year since 2012. With that to chew on, here is this week’s seed report.
Seed Report
1. Novak Djokovic
The Serb is 28-7 in Monte Carlo with a pair of titles in the last three years. He has made the semifinals or better every year since 2008. Fernando Verdasco is the only player other than Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer that has beaten Djokovic in Monte Carlo in that span. He knocked out Djokovic in the semis in 2010.
2. Andy Murray
This will be Murray’s first trip to Monte Carlo since 2013. He is just 11-7 all-time here. He has made the semifinals twice in 2009 and 2011. His last trip to the event was a quick one as he lost in his second match to Stan Wawrinka 6-1, 6-2.
3. Roger Federer
The Swiss is 28-12 in Monte Carlo. This is the first time he will have played the event in three straight seasons since a stretch where he played each year from 2005 to 2009. Last year was not a great one for Federer with an early exit in round three to Gael Monfils. Up until 2009, this was a solid tournament for the Swiss. He had been to three finals at that point, but has only been to one more (2014) since then. Federer has never won the title in Monte Carlo.
4. Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka stands at 17-7 during his career on trips to Monte Carlo. That includes a shocking title run in 2014. He was shockingly awful in losing to Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2 in last year’s third round at this event. He had been steady before that with two quarterfinal appearances and the championship before last year’s debacle.