The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas was proclaimed champion of the Monte Carlo Masters this Sunday by beating the Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final by 6-1 and 6-4 (in 1h 36m). This is his first title of the course and the third in the Principality, after those previously obtained in the 2021 and 2022 editions. He thus becomes the last dominator of the tournament, equaling the record of the Romanian Ilie Nastase (1971 to 1973), the Swede Björn Borg (1977, 1979 and 1980) and the Austrian Thomas Muster (1992, 1995 and 1996), all of them with three trophies on their record. Only Rafael Nadal surpasses them, with 11.
Tsitsipas, 25 years old, will rise this Monday from twelfth to seventh place in the ranking. Little inspired in recent times — in 2023 he only triumphed in Los Cabos (ATP 250) and in February he disappeared from the top-10, for the first time in five years—the Athenian shows his head in one of his favorite phases of the season. He wins the first event on land and thus presents his credentials for what is to come: Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros. In 2021, precisely, he managed to reach the final of the French great, then defeated by Novak Djokovic, who that afternoon managed to win two sets.
Throughout his career, Tsitsipas has won 11 trophies, of which three (the three in Monte Carlo) correspond to the Masters 1000. The 2019 Masters Cup is the most prestigious. Apart from the successes, the final of the Australian Open reached last season also appears on his service record. This year, the Greek’s dynamics were not positive until now, but contact with clay has once again revealed the best version of him. Powerful physically and in his striking, Tsitsipas overwhelmed Ruud in the first set and was able to round off his victory without a doubt. The Nordic is his third victimafter the failed attempts to stop him by the Russian Andrey Rublev (2021) and the Spanish Alejandro Davidovich (2022).
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