MONITOR ALCARAZ

“Carlos Alcaraz is out of Madrid. Now, we knew this at the time that we recorded, I think, last Thursday, Matt, we're hearing rumblings coming out about this wrist injury being bad, being certainly more than just an excuse to pull out of an event. He didn't particularly want to play anyway, or that's too reductive. I'm sure we'd love to play, but perhaps didn't best suit a schedule tailored towards defending his role on Garros' title.”

“I cannot believe this, but it's three straight tournaments he has been my dark horse. Indian Wells, Miami, now I'm looking at this again... to me, he's just easily the most dangerous unseated player in that particular section. More so than Griegsbord, who's struggling. More so than Monfils, who hasn't been able to really stack together wins in some time.”

“Zverev finally started serving Medvedev heavily wide in Paris, and Zverev likes, he favors the tea serves. He likes to go tea. And against Medvedev, that's his, those are his better returns. Moving into the middle of the court, from that deep return position, you don't really get anywhere serving tea against Medvedev. You've got to go wide. You're not really going to ace him. You're not going to get a lot of service winners.”

“Ultimately, I do think Alcaraz will get back on track here and win Monte Carlo back to back. He has been so, so good on clay. The extra effectiveness on the forehand for Carlos, the options that he has creatively to sort of use his drop shot in these conditions... I think what we see players do against Carlos where sometimes they can just sort of suffocate him and kind of go all out offensive blitz. It's not going to be a thing in these conditions.”

“And I think if you go back three years and watch Shelton's first steps on these clay courts as he was playing that swing, and then watch him in the Munich final and whole week this week, you will very obviously and very quickly see how much he has improved. He was all over the place on the clay. He didn't know how to move on it at all. He's such a good athlete, but normally, he's a great athlete moving in one direction, sprinting fast, on clay, you're constantly having to stop and change direction and be strong so as to withstand the sliding.”

“This is a pretty significantly weakened field based on just withdrawal. So I'm going to go down the list right now. It's Djokovic, Fritz, Draper, Davidovic, Vakina, Feess, Munnar, Korda. And then a few Americans didn't sign up, Shelton, Tommy Paul, a couple of others. So there are plenty of players who you would normally expect to see in a Masters 1000 tournament that we will not be seeing.”

“Only one time in tennis history has a player won the Sunshine Double, and then also won Monte Carlo. And that was Djokovic in 2015. It doesn't really happen. I'm never really going to back a player to win the Sunshine Double and do well at Monte Carlo. History tells us it's just not going to happen. Now Jannik can do it. He does a lot of things that are historical and mind-blowing, but it's not something that I'm going to bank on.”

“In his semi-final performance, where he was absolutely unreal, it felt like a kind of exhibition performance. The winners, he was reeling off against Alexander Zverev in that straight sets victory. He burst into tears upon sitting down in his chair after that win and was sobbing for considerable length of time. We knew he was bearing a heavy weight. He had done an Instagram post the day before and he had also put some markings on the sleeve that he wears on his arm in memory of a young boy, a 13-year-old boy we're hearing from his tennis club in Rome”

“I personally love it. My dark horse here is Alejandro Tabilo. My upset alert is Francis Tiafoe. My early popcorn is Alcaraz against the winner of Baez and Vavrenka. I promise I'm not being paid by Alejandro Tabilo. I'm not in his payroll. You have my word on that. But I cannot believe this, but it's three straight tournaments. He has been my dark horse.”

“But ultimately, I do think Alcaraz will get back on track here and win Monte Carlo back to back. He has been so, so good on clay. The extra effectiveness on the forehand for Carlos, the options that he has creatively to sort of use his drop shot in these conditions after pushing players back with the heavy spin and of course, the defense and the returning, which is just impenetrable in slow clay court conditions.”

“Zverev finally started serving Medvedev heavily wide in Paris. Sasha's wide serve, it's improved since then. He's worked on hitting a slower, more angular slice serve. And that very improvement that I've seen from Zverev this year is going to really play into this Medvedev head-to-head really nicely. Not to mention Clay. Look, I mean, Zverev's weight of shot, if he's actually hitting through the ball with confidence... these things in theory should help Zverev.”

“I feel like Goran Ivanovich is an ideal coach for this next stage of his career. The fact that, I mean, again, I always feel like I'm touching wood on his health because I can't believe this comeback. It's pretty unprecedented to come back and play like this, you know, consistently, but let's assume that that's in the past and that physically is okay. The next steps to be taken, he has the perfect guide in my view. Goran, by the way, believes that he was looking at a top 10 player in Hodar as well.”

“I cannot believe this, but it's three straight tournaments he has been my dark horse. Indian Wells, Miami, now I'm looking at this again... to me, he's just easily the most dangerous unseated player in that particular section. More so than Griegsbord, who's struggling. More so than Monfils, who hasn't been able to really stack together wins in some time.”

“Let's talk Monte Carlo. It is of the clay tournaments. It generally reads as the slowest. It's windy and it is slow. The ball is going to lose a ton of energy on the court surface. And the real sort of natural clay quarters, especially because there is less time for the less natural players to even make that adjustment and to get comfortable again on the dirt, the real natural clay quarters are usually going to do pretty well at this tournament.”

“Won by the top seed, Marta Kostyuk, following an all-Ukrainian final. She beat the 19-year-old qualifier, who quite frankly, I had not heard of before this week, Veronika Podrez, 6'3, 6'4, and had some incredibly powerful words to say after the match during the trophy presentation. She said, This match today was not just a match. It was a historical moment for Ukrainian tennis. The first time two Ukrainians play in a final. I know how much work, sacrifice, tears, and sweat goes into this sport, and to be able to be on this stage.”

“Yeah, she'd lost six times in a row to Goff. And she'd actually lost three times in a row to Svitolina. So to flip those head to heads around in consecutive matches, I agree with you, this does feel like a real step for Muchova. I talked on the pod on Thursday about some of those match up issues with Goff. Interestingly, we hadn't seen it on clay. And in my head, that would probably only help Koko Goff, but actually, I do think Muchova really played phenomenally well in this one and found a way to have a constant threat.”

“Only one time in tennis history has a player won the Sunshine Double, and then also won Monte Carlo. And that was Djokovic in 2015. In fact, only one time has a player won Miami, and then won Monte Carlo. That was Djokovic in 2015, of course. So, it doesn't really happen. The Sunshine Double, those are two events that are appropriately grouped together. They're back to back.”

“Number four seed is Lorenzo Musetti. He is back. Hopefully healthy. He's the defending runner up, so there's a lot of ranking point implications on Musetti's run here. He's been so good at this event. Monte Carlo has been his best tournament throughout his career, and I do think the draw is really favorable for him, so I don't see him really getting picked off early.”

“Let's talk Monte Carlo. It is of the clay tournaments. It generally reads as the slowest. It's windy and it is slow. The ball is going to lose a ton of energy on the court surface. And the real sort of natural clay quarters, especially because there is less time for the less natural players to even make that adjustment and to get comfortable again on the dirt, the real natural clay quarters are usually going to do pretty well at this tournament.”

“Marketa Vondrousova, the former Wimbledon champion, has been charged with refusing a doping test after what she calls an acute stress reaction. This from reporting by Charlie Echolchet in The Athletic. An ITIA spokesperson has confirmed to The Athletic that Vondrousova could face a ban of up to four years and that she's under investigation for an event which took place in December of last year. Vondrousova is free to play while under investigation. On Friday afternoon, she, Vondrousova, that is, issued a statement on Instagram detailing how a random visit from a doping control official caused an acute stress reaction.”

“I also want to say before we go quarter by quarter, this is a pretty significantly weakened field based on just withdrawal. So I'm going to go down the list right now. It's Djokovic, Fritz, Draper, Davidovic, Vakina, Feess, Munnar, Korda. And then a few Americans didn't sign up, Shelton, Tommy Paul, a couple of others. So there are plenty of players who you would normally expect to see in a Masters 1000 tournament that we will not be seeing.”

“Ultimately, I do think Alcaraz will get back on track here and win Monte Carlo back to back. He has been so, so good on clay. The extra effectiveness on the forehand for Carlos, the options that he has creatively to sort of use his drop shot in these conditions... I think what we see players do against Carlos where sometimes they can just sort of suffocate him and kind of go all out offensive blitz. It's not going to be a thing in these conditions.”

“The way I could justify it is, he was healthy enough to play Indian Wells. And that makes me think, unless there was a setback, a physical setback that I'm unaware of, that makes me think that he's had ample time to prepare and build up his fitness for Monte Carlo week. That he's actually been healthy for a couple of weeks now, which means he's been able to push it hard in the fitness and the training, and that he might be ready to go here.”

“Yeah, and it got worse and worse as this match went on. You know, her first serve percentage just dropped in this match on, you know, by set. And you know, her first serve is not the most effective first serve anyway. So she kind of needs to be making a pretty high percentage to be able to get effect out of it. And then, as you said, the second serve is kind of sitting there and is very attackable right now. And I suppose the serve was an element that I wasn't expecting to have got better, to be honest.”

“I personally love it. My dark horse here is Alejandro Tabilo. My upset alert is Francis Tiafoe. My early popcorn is Alcaraz against the winner of Baez and Vavrenka. I promise I'm not being paid by Alejandro Tabilo. I'm not in his payroll. You have my word on that. But I cannot believe this, but it's three straight tournaments. He has been my dark horse.”

“Well, the ATP, they have made a move here. So for now, let's just do that. I have signed up, I have made a league. It's called Monday Match Analysis, the code to join the league. It's through the ATP website. So it's very official. It's not going to shut down and go belly up on us. The code will be in the description to join the Monday Match Analysis Fantasy League.”

“Only one time in tennis history has a player won the Sunshine Double, and then also won Monte Carlo. And that was Djokovic in 2015. In fact, only one time has a player won Miami, and then won Monte Carlo. That was Djokovic in 2015, of course. So, it doesn't really happen. The Sunshine Double, those are two events that are appropriately grouped together. They're back to back.”

“Midway through Indian Wells, the app stopped working and I have not heard from them. So this is where my information on what's going on is very limited. I don't know what happened, but I think it's safe to assume bulky is not going to be a thing. I hope everyone's okay over there. More likely than not, they probably just hatched the project and they haven't been communicative with me.”

“Only one time in tennis history has a player won the Sunshine Double, and then also won Monte Carlo. And that was Djokovic in 2015. It doesn't really happen. I'm never really going to back a player to win the Sunshine Double and do well at Monte Carlo. History tells us it's just not going to happen. Now Jannik can do it. He does a lot of things that are historical and mind-blowing, but it's not something that I'm going to bank on.”

“Well, the ATP, they have made a move here. So for now, let's just do that. I have signed up, I have made a league. It's called Monday Match Analysis, the code to join the league. It's through the ATP website. So it's very official. It's not going to shut down and go belly up on us. The code will be in the description to join the Monday Match Analysis Fantasy League.”

“Midway through Indian Wells, the app stopped working and I have not heard from them. So this is where my information on what's going on is very limited. I don't know what happened, but I think it's safe to assume bulky is not going to be a thing. I hope everyone's okay over there. More likely than not, they probably just hatched the project and they haven't been communicative with me.”

“And Rybakina just continues to be in incredible form, doesn't she? This is now the first time she's won multiple titles somewhere. She has removed the Medvedev curse over her little collection of titles. She won this back in 2024, and she didn't play it last year. So she's on a real streak, actually, in Stuttgart. And those conditions, indoors, obviously we saw what she can do on an indoor hard court back in the WTA finals last year against the best players in the world.”

“Zverev finally started serving Medvedev heavily wide in Paris. Sasha's wide serve, it's improved since then. He's worked on hitting a slower, more angular slice serve. And that very improvement that I've seen from Zverev this year is going to really play into this Medvedev head-to-head really nicely. Not to mention Clay. Look, I mean, Zverev's weight of shot, if he's actually hitting through the ball with confidence... these things in theory should help Zverev.”

“But ultimately, I do think Alcaraz will get back on track here and win Monte Carlo back to back. He has been so, so good on clay. The extra effectiveness on the forehand for Carlos, the options that he has creatively to sort of use his drop shot in these conditions after pushing players back with the heavy spin and of course, the defense and the returning, which is just impenetrable in slow clay court conditions.”

“This is a pretty significantly weakened field based on just withdrawal. So I'm going to go down the list right now. It's Djokovic, Fritz, Draper, Davidovic, Vakina, Feess, Munnar, Korda. And then a few Americans didn't sign up, Shelton, Tommy Paul, a couple of others. So there are plenty of players who you would normally expect to see in a Masters 1000 tournament that we will not be seeing.”

“Let's talk Monte Carlo. It is of the clay tournaments. It generally reads as the slowest. It's windy and it is slow. The ball is going to lose a ton of energy on the court surface. And the real sort of natural clay quarters, especially because there is less time for the less natural players to even make that adjustment and to get comfortable again on the dirt, the real natural clay quarters are usually going to do pretty well at this tournament.”

“The way I could justify it is, he was healthy enough to play Indian Wells. And that makes me think, unless there was a setback, a physical setback that I'm unaware of, that makes me think that he's had ample time to prepare and build up his fitness for Monte Carlo week. That he's actually been healthy for a couple of weeks now, which means he's been able to push it hard in the fitness and the training, and that he might be ready to go here.”

“Number four seed is Lorenzo Musetti. He is back. Hopefully healthy. He's the defending runner up, so there's a lot of ranking point implications on Musetti's run here. He's been so good at this event. Monte Carlo has been his best tournament throughout his career, and I do think the draw is really favorable for him, so I don't see him really getting picked off early.”

“Zverev finally started serving Medvedev heavily wide in Paris, and Zverev likes, he favors the tea serves. He likes to go tea. And against Medvedev, that's his, those are his better returns. Moving into the middle of the court, from that deep return position, you don't really get anywhere serving tea against Medvedev. You've got to go wide. You're not really going to ace him. You're not going to get a lot of service winners.”

“But I tell you, he's gonna be a French Open champion in the future, is Arthur Fils. Health permitting. It is health permitting. But I totally believe that the revs he's getting on that forehand with speed through the air. There's not really any other like that now, now that Nadal stopped. Get David on a French radio talk show, because I feel like Fils is really being talked about in France. There's like debate happening in France. Like, is he a potential threat to Sino and Alcares? Is he not?”

“I also want to say before we go quarter by quarter, this is a pretty significantly weakened field based on just withdrawal. So I'm going to go down the list right now. It's Djokovic, Fritz, Draper, Davidovic, Vakina, Feess, Munnar, Korda. And then a few Americans didn't sign up, Shelton, Tommy Paul, a couple of others. So there are plenty of players who you would normally expect to see in a Masters 1000 tournament that we will not be seeing.”

“Let's talk Monte Carlo. It is of the clay tournaments. It generally reads as the slowest. It's windy and it is slow. The ball is going to lose a ton of energy on the court surface. And the real sort of natural clay quarters, especially because there is less time for the less natural players to even make that adjustment and to get comfortable again on the dirt, the real natural clay quarters are usually going to do pretty well at this tournament.”