Why This Year’s Monte Carlo Masters Doesn’t Matter
By Humzah Azeem
Monte Carlo is the second most prestigious clay court tournament of the year, so why on Earth should you not care about it? That’s probably the first question you’re asking yourself as you read the headline, and fair enough, you might think I’m an idiot for even suggesting the tournament’s irrelevance.
Let’s be honest, the French Open is what really matters. “But Humzah, Monte Carlo is a Masters 1000 event! Shouldn’t that count for something?” Yes, it should. Just like Miami mattered to Hubert Hurkacz… Hurkacz winning Miami was so uneventful that he had a press conference where he was asked zero questions.
The man sat there for 30 seconds as the moderator asked for questions in English, then Polish, and Hubert just sat there with an embarrassed little grin. In the grand scheme of things, the “Big Tournament” number that includes Grand Slams, Masters 1000s, ATP Finals, and the Olympics, simply doesn’t get talked about enough. The Big 3 care about the Grand Slams, no matter how hard you want every tournament to count. People have been predicting Next Gen breakthroughs at the slams, it’s just that impressive at the Masters level.
The media didn’t care about Hurkacz winning Miami because the Big 3 wasn’t even there. It almost seems like it didn’t count. And so far, Monte Carlo hasn’t provided any useful information for the French Open, and it won’t. The guys are too rusty.
Did you watch Dimitrov play Rafa today? It was horrendous. Truly one of the worst performances I’ve seen from a professional tennis player in my life, let alone a current top 20 and a former world number 3. He looked helpless out there. It was like watching a mid level college player play Nadal. Dimitrov would get a few balls back, then miss. Like clockwork. His shot tolerance was at 4. If I had to coach him it would’ve just been “Listen, Grigor. For God’s sake just keep the ball in play. All Rafa has to do is hit 3 balls in and the point is over”. It looked like he might be injured, he was slightly limping on his right side, but a racket smash following a missed forehand made it seem like he was not mentally checked out. Like he was actually frustrated, which is a sign that he expected better from himself.
Starting with his first service game, he double faulted 3 times to get broken. Those are Zverev numbers. From that point on it was abysmal. Nadal didn’t even get a chance to look good. He described his win as Dimitrov’s “fault, not my good tennis”. Apparently Dimitrov has been dealing with a tooth infection for a few days which explains the performance. This is why this tournament doesn’t matter. We simply cannot figure out anything important about anyone’s level moving into the second major of the year.
Djokovic losing to Dan Evans is a key point for this argument. Djokovic looked totally unlike himself. He was unwilling to change tactics to get Evans out of a rhythm, and looked himself like he couldn’t find a groove. He said in his press conference after the loss that it was “one of those days”. He’s lucky there’s still quite a few tournaments ahead of him.
It’s just not realistic to assume that when the time comes for Djokovic and Dimitrov to perform at high levels that they won’t. Sure it looks like Rafa might walk through the rest of the field, but there isn’t a single player who wouldn’t trade Monte Carlo for Roland Garros. Wait until Madrid and Rome to make serious predictions about how people will perform. Not only are there no fans in Monaco but no one’s level is where it needs to be. Stay patient. The best tennis of the season is yet to come, but don’t get ahead of yourself if Rafa loses to Rublev, or Tsitsipas here in Monte Carlo. It just won’t tell you enough.