Some things never change. For example, Daniil Medvedev’s bad mood every time he steps on clay, a surface that causes him allergies and that, more often than he would like, also gets on his nerves. It happens this Thursday in Monte Carlo, where two days before he drew the first round, but not this second. Bowing before his compatriot Karen Khachanov (6-3 and 7-5), before retiring to the locker room he does his thing: he throws the racket violently against the back canvas and, after being reprimanded, focuses his anger on the judge, the Brazilian. Carlos Bernardes. Loudly, he also protests in the presence of the court supervisor: “Yesterday the ball was bad, and it was called good; This time it was also bad… Who takes responsibility? It is not my responsibility to referee the matches! Open your eyes! Open your damn eyes! “Do something, it was outside!”
Champion last year in Rome, in one of those caroms that are difficult to understand, it does not seem that this season he will be able to overcome a terrain that simply surpasses him. Only one of his 20 titles came on clay, and the chances of him being able to appear at the next Roland Garros – starting on May 26 – as a real candidate seem more than remote. He is, in a way, one of the few more or less predictable elements that the current men’s clay tour offers, because everything else is surrounded by a strange atmosphere: for the moment, Rafael Nadal has not arrived on time and his reappearance — If this happens – it is a complete unknown, and the aspiring theorists either have doubts (Novak Djokovic), have not yet landed (Carlos Alcaraz) or have not yet demonstrated their sand expertise (Jannik Sinner).
While the women’s scene proposes a clear initial approach – all against Iga Swiatek, champion in three of the last four editions of the French great -, the men’s scene offers the attraction of the uncertain. On paper, today it would be Djokovic who would have all the numbers to be enthroned again, but the circumstances currently surrounding the Serbian place him on the level of the unpredictable. Triple champion in Paris (2016, 2021 and 2023), Nole has disembarked after a lifting practically integral – culminated with the change of coach – and the strange performance of the first quarter is accompanied by some statements that mark his current state, despite the fact that Tuesday’s debut in the Principality – against Roman Safiullin – was convincing since he knew how to recover from an initial lapse in the round of 16 against Musetti (7-5 and 6-3), last year’s executioner.
“To be honest, my expectations are not very high, considering how I have played so far. The important thing is to consolidate my game to reach my best form at Roland Garros. Everything else would be an extra. Dirt is the most demanding surface; Here it takes me longer to reach my best level,” he warned in the run-up to the tournament. He corroborates the statement’s performance in recent years, generally from less to more. The Balkan (37 years old) usually dresses like a sheep to face a stage that he now arrives at without too many certainties, because before the stumble in Indian Wells—eliminated by the 123rd in the world, his most notorious defeat in a Masters 1000—his level was not It was excessively high in Australia and there it received another push from young people. That day he gave it to Jannik Sinner. In any case, coincidence or not, it seems that Nadal’s absence has softened his competitive flame for now, but not his ability to top records: with 82.2% efficiency, he already surpasses the Mallorcan by one tenth (82.1 %) in the Thousands.
The Games as closure
He will face the Australian Alex de Miñaur in the quarterfinals this Friday, while Sinner will face Holger Rune (7-6(9), 3-6 and 7-6(2) against Grigor Dimitrov). The young Italian is still launched – 24 wins in 25 games in 2024 – and has not wavered in this week’s performance, but he is still far from being a earthling. So far it has offered clues, but it has not yet mastered a territory in which the number of specialists has decreased considerably. The San Candido has plenty of ways and resources to achieve it, but apart from the quarterfinals signed in Paris in 2020 – he lost the last edition in the second round – and the semifinals reached in Monte Carlo a year ago, his results on clay — 68.3% to date—are rather discreet for a tennis player of his level. He therefore faces the tour as a challenge to himself, confident of adapting to the always demanding codes of a mere passage habitat in the modern calendar.
“Last year I did well here, but then it wasn’t so good. It’s going to be complicated, it’s a surface where I usually have problems, but I’m eager to do better,” he explains, paraphrasing Djokovic’s intentions: “Expectations are not too high because it’s the beginning, and my goal is to be prepared for Roland Garros and the Games (in Paris, in summer). “I’m taking this week of training.” On the rise, Sinner (6-4 and 6-2 Jan-Lennard Struff) recently unseated Alcaraz as number two – thanks to the title obtained in Miami – and to retain the position this week he will have to repeat the 2023 semifinals. He trusts May the physical growth of recent months help him, but there are those who relegate him from the favorites. “What he does well, intimidate from the bottom, is more difficult to do on the ground. His rivals will thank the change,” says former number one, Andy Roddick.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz pampers his right arm and speeds up the days to be able to participate next week in the Godó. The Murcian was going to make his debut on Wednesday, but he had to give up the Monegasque event due to a problem in his “pronator teres”. Between cottons, but without stopping working daily, the 20-year-old from Murcia will try to maintain the line of the last two seasons, in which he won six of the seven trophies he has on clay, including two in Barcelona and two others in Madrid. In the 67 matches that he has played to date, distributed in 15 tournaments, he has 59 victories. The numbers support him, but he will do everything possible to return to action and not give up more space, given that he defends a large number of points for previous successes.
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