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Tsitsipas Claims Maiden Masters 1000 At Monte Carlo

By Humzah Azeem

MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - APRIL 18: Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece poses with the winners trophy after the Men's Final match on day eight of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2021 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Sporting stadiums around Monaco remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO - APRIL 18: Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece poses with the winners trophy after the Men's Final match on day eight of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters at Monte-Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2021 in Monte-Carlo, Monaco. Sporting stadiums around Monaco remain under strict restrictions due to the Coronavirus Pandemic as Government social distancing laws prohibit fans inside venues resulting in games being played behind closed doors. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images) /
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Social media guru who plays tennis on the side, Stefanos Tsitsipas won the first Masters 1000 tournament of his career today. It’s quite surprising that he was able to take time off from vlogging and tweeting deep thoughts to train hard enough for success on the red dirt.

The Greek took out Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-3 in the first tournament of the clay court season. Tsitsipas secured an early break in each set and never looked back. Rublev just never got into the match, there’s no other way to put it. In every extended rally, it seemed certain Tsitsipas would triumph.

Per Matthew Willis on Twitter, Tsitsipas’ average forehand height over the net was nearly a foot higher than Rublev. This type of margin is incredibly beneficial on clay. The surface lends itself to slow, grueling rallies that reward patience. Tsitsipas adjusted his game as such and bore the fruits. Rublev is known to be a hard hitting, aggressive shot maker, which may help him on grass, but today showed why one should sit back and bide their time.

In basically every longer rally, Rublev would unload on his groundstrokes and Tsitsipas would be there comfortably, sliding in and returning with deadly depth. Tsitsipas did and absolutely marvelous job tactically to dismantle the Russian. He never tried to do too much, and it paid off with a sizeable check, and a significant addition to a bleak trophy room.

The broader implications of this match are that Tsitsipas has established himself in Thiem’s tier of clay court playing. The Big 3 of course have their own posse at the top, followed closely by Thiem and now Tsitsipas. Players like Rublev, Schwartzman, and Zverev are half a step behind (yes even with Zverev’s clay court trophies).

Moving along through the rest of the clay court swing, it will be important to note how Nadal and Djokovic recover. We of course discussed the lack of importance to be placed on who won this tournament, which we stand by. Tsitsipas winning Monte Carlo provides no insight moving into the French Open which is over a month away, and an entirely different beast than a Masters 1000. Nadal and Djokovic will be the clear favorites regardless of their results moving into the second major of the year.

The changing of the guard is obviously going to be a gradual process and today was certainly a checkpoint along that journey but until the young guns make a move at the majors, consider it all moot. Congratulations to Tsitsipas, but the work is still ahead of you. Sorry to be so grumpy Stef, it’s just hard to believe change is coming until we see it.

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