It is time for the third Masters 1000 event of 2016. Novak Djokovic has dominated en route to titles in Indian Wells and Miami already and will look to add to his record 48 Masters titles this week in Monte Carlo. Djokovic can also become just the sixth player to win consecutive titles at this event, joining Rafael Nadal, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Thomas Muster, Bjorn Borg and Ilie Nastase.
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.
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.
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