Monte Carlo

Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz are among the ATP Tour's big names set to compete at the 2022 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

A number of singles stars are also in the Monte-Carlo draw. Ninth seed Sinner faces Borna Coric in the opening round, while Musetti takes on Benoit Paire. Sinner, 20, is making his second Monte-Carlo appearance after a second-round showing in his 2021 debut. Croatia's Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic follow as the second seeds, after Pavic lost his World No. 1 ranking to the Briton. 5) Ruud To Back Up Surprise Miami Final: Casper Ruud surprised himself by reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 title on the Miami hard courts. The Swiss, who is also playing doubles with Auger-Aliassime, faces Bublik in the opening round. He holds an 8-5 record at the event, but is 2-2 in his last two appearances, bowing out in the last 16 each time. After claiming the trophy without dropping a set, he reached the Barcelona final, won the title in Lyon and reached his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros. Now back on his favoured clay, the fourth seed will look to improve upon his Monte-Carlo semi-final run one year ago. 1) Djokovic Returns For Second ATP Tour Event of 2022: After a Dubai quarter-final loss saw him cede the top spot in the ATP Rankings, Djokovic enters Monte-Carlo back at World No. 1. The Greek will open against a qualifier in Monaco. The German World No. 3's best Monte-Carlo result came in 2018, when he reached the semi-finals. On Monday, Djokovic will begin his 365th week atop the ATP Rankings, extending his own record.

Tennis - Djokovic scored the fifth victory over Nadal on clay in the semi-final.

Djokovic painted the court with his backhand, crushing them down the line to force Nadal's mistakes and drawing the opponent out of his comfort zone. Something similar happened in the seventh game of set number two when Rafa squandered five game points to suffer a break, which sealed his fate. He fended off two out of three break chances to limit the damage and sailed through the last five games to keep his rival in the danger zone. Novak served at 75% and had troubles in three out of the first four service games. Novak Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-3, 6-3 for his second victory over the king of clay in the Principality within three years. Instead, the Spaniard claimed only three smaller titles that year and failed to win a Major for the first time in 11 years!

MONTE CARLO, Principality of Monaco: Novak Djokovic will return to action at the Monte Carlo Masters next week where Carlos Alcaraz, the teenager seen as ...

In Djokovic’s absence, Nadal has nipped ahead of him in the Grand Slam greatness race, winning a 21st major in Australia. As well as his Miami triumph, the 18-year-old pushed Rafael Nadal all the way at Indian Wells before succumbing in a three-set semi-final. Nadal was among the first to congratulate Alcaraz upon his Miami win, hailing a “historical” triumph. He has rocketed from 133rd in the world to 11 in one year. Alcaraz, unlike the great Serb star, has hardly been off a tennis court in 2022, playing 20 matches on the tour with a win-loss record of 18-2. Djokovic, who on Monday starts his 365th week on top of the rankings, has played just one tournament in four months.