Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2018 Tournament Schedule
Who is playing the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters in 2018?
The vast majority of the ATP World Tour’s top players return to Monte Carlo once again as Rafael Nadal leads the field at the 2018 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, live from Sunday 14 April to Sunday 22 April. Roger Federer has once again decided to skip the entire clay court season following another record-breaking spell on hard courts to start the year, while top-ten stars, Juan Martin del Potro and John Isner, champions at Indian Wells and Miami respectively, both look set to skip the Masters 1000 event. Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray are among other notable absentees.
No one apart from Nadal has won a tournament more than eight times in the Open Era – and the Spaniard has done it no fewer than three times, holding 10 titles each at the Barcelona Open, the French Open and the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he became the only man to win a tournament for eight consecutive years when he ruled Monte Carlo from 2005 to 2012.
Nadal ruled the clay season in 2017, picking up ‘La Decima’ - 10 titles - at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, Barcelona Open and French Open, capping a remarkable resurgence by finishing the year as World No. 1. A brilliant comeback season eventually took its toll on the great Spaniard, who was forced to pull out from the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals after just one match because of a knee injury. The 31-year-old returned to action at the 2018 Australian Open, but his body caved in once again, as he retired from his quarter final meeting with Marin Cilic due to a thigh problem. Nadal didn't play for the rest of the hard court season, pulling out of tournaments in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami. However, he made his return in a Davis Cup clash with Germany on the clay of Valencia, where he sent out a note of warning to the rest of the tour with two crushing wins over Philipp Kohlschreiber and more impressively, Alexander Zverev to signal his readiness for the clay-court season.
While Nadal bossed the clay-court season last year, like he has done for most of his career, Dominic Thiem was a clear second-best, with a title in Rio, finals in Barcelona and Madrid, and semi-finals in Rome and Roland Garros. Three of his five defeats on the surface were against Nadal. However, the Austrian has not quite cut it at Monte Carlo, having never gone beyond the third round, and the heir apparent to the King of Clay will be keen to make his first real move at the principality this year. Thiem already has a clay-court title in 2018- in Buenos Aires, but he surprisingly fell to Fernando Verdasco in the quarter finals of the Rio Open, where he was defending champion. Away from clay, he has had a predictably quiet season, with just a semi-final in Doha to show for his efforts. Expect the Austrian to suddenly come back to life on European clay!
Two-time champion, Novak Djokovic has had a turbulent year, both on and off the courts. The former world number one missed the second half of last season as he battled an elbow injury, but his 2018 comeback has been far from plain-sailing. A fourth-round loss to Hyeon Chung at the Australian Open was followed by minor surgery on his problematic elbow, but that move hasn't had an immediate effect on his fortunes, as the Serbian crashed to opening round defeats in traditional strongholds, Indian Wells and Miami. Djokovic has since split with coaches Andre Agassi and Radek Stepanek, with new reports suggesting he is about to turn to former long-time coach, Marian Vajda. Can the Serbian re-discover his form on the clay of Monte Carlo?
Top ten stars, Marin Cilic, Grigor Dimitrov and Alexander Zverev are all set to compete, with the trio looking to inject some consistency into their seasons. Cilic opened the year with a runner-up finish at the Australian Open, but has done pretty much nothing since then; Dimitrov has won just one of his last five tour matches, while Zverev finally found some form in Miami, where he reached the final, after a disappointing start to the year.
Last year's quarter-finalist, David Goffin also looks set to make his return to the tour for the first time since February, after picking up a freak eye injury in Dubai, while Lucas Pouille, Pablo Carreno-Busta, and Diego Schwartzman are among those looking to make their marks.
Former finalists, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils and Albert Ramos-Vinolasare all in the draw, so are young guns, Hyeon Chung and Borna Coric, who are both looking to transfer their superb hard-court forms to the clay of Monte Carlo.
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2018 seeds
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1 | Rafael Nadal | Spain | 1 |
2 | Marin Cilic | Croatia | 3 |
3 | Alexander Zverev | Germany | 4 |
4 | Grigor Dimitrov | Bulgaria | 5 |
5 | Dominic Thiem | Austria | 7 |
6 | David Goffin | Belgium | 10 |
7 | Lucas Pouille | France | 11 |
8 | Pablo Carreno Busta | Spain | 12 |
9 | Novak Djokovic | Serbia | 13 |
10 | Diego Schwartzman | Argentina | 15 |
11 | Roberto Bautista Agut | Spain | 17 |
12 | Tomas Berdych | Czech Republic | 18 |
13 | Fabio Fognini | Italy | 20 |
14 | Milos Raonic | Canada | 22 |
15 | Albert Ramos-Vinolas | Spain | 23 |
16 | Adrian Mannarino | France | 25
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About the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
One of the most prestigious and iconic ATP World Tour events, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters marks the beginning of the clay-court season proper when it takes place each year in mid-April.
Despite the fact that it is the only one of the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Series events not to feature a mandatory player commitment, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters nevertheless draws an extremely strong field year after year as the best in men’s tennis almost without exception unfailingly chose the Monte-Carlo Masters as the site of their return to the terre battue of Europe.
Despite the name, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters is actually held in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France, a commune that borders Monaco – but all of the old-school European glamour traditionally associated with the words ‘Monte Carlo’ is in evidence at the long-running, glittering event. The clay courts of the Monte Carlo Country Club, high above the Mediterranean, are some of the most beautiful and picturesque imaginable and the show court, Court Rainier III, features a spectator capacity of 10,200.
First played in 1897, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters celebrated its centenary in 2006. Originating in the dying days of the nineteenth century, the tournament continued through the first Edwardian flush of tennis’s popularity and into the 1920s-30s Riviera heyday when you could say with Hercule Poirot: ‘Sooner or later one meets everyone at the tennis.’ Since the Open Era began in 1968 – the year that Italian legend Nicola Pietrangeli won his third title – the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters has included many of the most famous names in tennis among its champions, including Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl and Gustavo Kuerten.
No man has ever ruled the Monte-Carlo Masters like the man they call the ‘King of Clay’, however. Rafael Nadal lost in the round of 16 to Guillermo Coria on his first appearance in 2003, but between 2004 and 2012 he won eight consecutive titles – the first man ever to win a tournament eight straight times. Nadal’s 46-match winning streak at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters was finally ended in the 2013 final by Novak Djokovic, but he would go on to reclaim the title in 2016, making the Monte-Carlo Masters one of three tournaments, alongside fellow clay events the Barcelona Open and the French Open, which Nadal has won nine times (no other player has won any tournament nine times in the Open Era). Nadal improved and extended that phenomenal record in 2017, successfully defending his Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters crown (along with Barcelona and Roland Garros) to collect a 10th title at the tournament, defeating surprise finalist Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
Novak Djokovic’s titles in 2013 and 2015 at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, and three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka’s 2014 victory over compatriot Roger Federer, underline the continued significance of the Monte-Carlo Masters as a warm-up for the French Open, with both men going on to triumph at Roland Garros.
Featuring a 56-player singles draw and prize money of €4,273,775, as well as 1,000 ranking points to the winner and the priceless honour of having one’s name inscribed on a list of champions which stretches all the way back to Reggie Doherty in 1897, the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters is one of the most glittering and unforgettable stops on the ATP World Tour and always begins the clay season on a high note.
Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2018 Tournament Information
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Dates | 14-22 April 2018 |
Location | Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France |
Venue | Monte Carlo Country Club |
First played | 1897 |
Category | Masters 1000 |
Surface | Red clay (outdoors) |
Draw size | 56 singles/24 doubles |
Most titles | Rafael Nadal (10) |
Reigning singles champion | Rafael Nadal |
Reigning doubles champions | Pablo Cuevas/Rohan Bopanna |
Prize money | €4,273,775
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Previous Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters champions (since 1968)
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1968 | Nicola Pietrangeli | Alexander Metreveli |
1969 | Tom Okker | John Newcombe |
1970 | Zeljko Franulovic | Manuel Orantes |
1971 | Ilie Nastase | Tom Okker |
1972 | Ilie Nastase (2) | Frantisek Pala |
1973 | Ilie Nastase (3) | Bjorn Borg |
1974 | Andrew Pattison | Ilie Nastase |
1975 | Manuel Orantes | Bob Hewitt |
1976 | Guillermo Vilas | Wojciech Fibak |
1977 | Bjorn Borg | Corrado Barazzutti |
1978 | Paul Ramirez | Tomas Smid |
1979 | Bjorn Borg (2) | Vitas Gerulaitis |
1980 | Bjorn Borg (3) | Guillermo Vilas |
1981 | No champion (final abandoned due to rain) | Jimmy Connors/Guillermo Vilas |
1982 | Guillermo Vilas (2) | Ivan Lendl |
1983 | Mats Wilander | Mel Purcell |
1984 | Henrik Sundstrom | Mats Wilander |
1985 | Ivan Lendl | Mats Wilander |
1986 | Joakim Nystrom | Yannick Noah |
1987 | Mats Wilander (2) | Jimmy Arias |
1988 | Ivan Lendl (2) | Martin Jaite |
1989 | Alberto Mancini | Boris Becker |
1990 | Andrei Chesnokov | Thomas Muster |
1991 | Sergei Bruguera | Boris Becker |
1992 | Thomas Muster | Aaron Krickstein |
1993 | Sergei Bruguera (2) | Cedric Pioline |
1994 | Andriy Medvedev | Sergei Bruguera |
1995 | Thomas Muster (2) | Boris Becker |
1996 | Thomas Muster (3) | Albert Costa |
1997 | Marcelo Rios | Alex Corretja |
1998 | Carlos Moya | Cedric Pioline |
1999 | Gustavo Kuerten | Marcelo Rios |
2000 | Cedric Pioline | Dominik Hrbaty |
2001 | Gustavo Kuerten (2) | Hicham Arazi |
2002 | Juan Carlos Ferrero | Carlos Moya |
2003 | Juan Carlos Ferrero (2) | Guillermo Coria |
2004 | Guillermo Coria | Rainer Schuettler |
2005 | Rafael Nadal | Guillermo Coria |
2006 | Rafael Nadal (2) | Roger Federer |
2007 | Rafael Nadal (3) | Roger Federer |
2008 | Rafael Nadal (4) | Roger Federer |
2009 | Rafael Nadal (5) | Novak Djokovic |
2010 | Rafael Nadal (6) | Fernando Verdasco |
2011 | Rafael Nadal (7) | David Ferrer |
2012 | Rafael Nadal (8) | Novak Djokovic |
2013 | Novak Djokovic | Rafael Nadal |
2014 | Stan Wawrinka | Roger Federer |
2015 | Novak Djokovic (2) | Tomas Berdych |
2016 | Rafael Nadal (9) | Gael Monfils |
2017 | Rafael Nadal (10) | Albert Ramos-Vinolas
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How to watch and bet on tennis live from Monte Carlo