Tsitsipas wins in Monte Carlo and takes the lead in the ATP Race

18Apr
von Jürgen Fritz

By Jürgen Fritz, So. 18. Apr 2021, Cover picture: YouTube-screenshot

Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Andrey Rublev in the Monte Carlo final to win his first Master 1000 title. Tsitsipas thus overtakes Medvedev, Djokovic and Rublev in the 2021 ATP Race and takes the lead there for the first time.

Tsitsipas sweeps Rublev off the court 6-3, 6-3 in 71 minutes

Both players, Tsitsipas and Rublev, had never won a tournament in the C category. So it was already clear before the final that we would definitely see a premiere and a new Masters 1000 winner.

The match was actually considered completely open. Some saw Russia’s Andrey Rublev slightly ahead at 19-18 or 10-9 after he had knocked out Roberto Bautista Agut in a sensationally good match in the last 16 and then eleven-time Monte Carlo champion Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals, each in three long, tough sets. Tsitsipas‘ path to the final was much easier. The 22-year-old Greek did not drop a single set in the previous four rounds and benefited in the quarter-finals from the retirement of his opponent Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who had to retire injured after the first set. In this respect, Tsitsipas certainly went into the final fresher.

But what the No. 5 in the ATP ranking then showed today was a more than impressive performance. From the first to the last minute Tsitsipas dominated the match and never really let Rublev, who seemed less present than in the rounds before, get into his game. In only 71 minutes, Tsitsipas swept Rublev off the court 6-3, 6-3. Especially on Tsitsipas‘ serve, the 23-year-old Russian had no chance. In the entire match, he did not manage to win a single break point and scored just ten points in his opponent’s nine service games. Tsitsipas served excellently and also played with absolute concentration and pressure from the baseline, making 79 percent of the points when he served. At the same time, he managed to break Rublev three times, in the first set for an immediate 2-0 lead and in the second set for 2-1 and then again for 6-3.

Tsitsipas is now No. 1 in the ATP Race, Rublev No. 2

Both Tsitsipas (since spring/summer 2018) and Rublev (since Jan. 2020) have been among the absolute world’s best for quite a while now, both have firmly established themselves in the top eight, which play in a league of their own, so to speak. And if the ATP hadn’t changed its ranking from 12 to 24 months because of the long pandemic break of more than five months in 2020, so that now the 2019 results are still taken into account (very disadvantageous for younger players!), Rublev in particular would be even further up the rankings and not just in 8th position. But with his entry into the final of Monte Carlo, Rublev has now finally overtaken Federer and moved up to 7th. Tsitsipas remains No. 5 in the 24-month ranking for the time being.

But if we look only at the results of the current season, things look a little different. Andrey Rublev has now overtaken both Medvedev and Djokovic by virtue of the 600 points he will receive for making the Monte Carlo final and is now the world No. 2 in the 2021 ATP Race.

Stefanos Tsitsipas even moves up to No. 1 in the Race with his 1,000 points for his first Masters 1000 win. Tsitsipas and Rublev are thus the two most successful players of the current season. And they are also the only ones who have already won more than 20 matches this year: Rublev 24, Tsitsipas 22 (only Medvedev has more than 15: 17).

This is how the ATP Race looks after Monte Carlo

At the moment (19.04.2021), the ATP Race to Turin looks like this:

  1. Stefanos Tsitsipas: 2,540 points, match record: 22–5
  2. Andrey Rublev: 2,400 points, match record: 24-5
  3. Novak Djoković: 2,230 points, match record: 10-1
  4. Daniil Medvedev: 2,130 points, match record: 17-3
  5. Hubert Hurkacz: 1,440 points, match record: 15-6
  6. Aslan Karatsev: 1,355 points, match record: 14-4
  7. Jannik Sinner: 1,040 points, match record: 15-6
  8. Alexander Zverev: 1,025 points, match record: 10-6

In position nine and ten we see:

  9. Roberto Bautista Agut: 855 points, match record: 14-9
10. Casper Ruud: 675 points, match record: 10-4

Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Roger Federer have had a very weak start to the new year. They are ranked as follows in the ATP Race of 19.04.2021:

18. Rafael Nadal: 540 points, match record: 6–2
47. Domonic Thiem: 275 points, match record: 5–4
222. Roger Federer: 45 points, match record: 1–1

2021-04-19

(c) JFB

Tsitsipas wins his second major title and improves his final record to 6-8

Tsitsipas improved his final record to 6-8 (43 per cent win rate) with his win today. The 22-year-old reached a major final for the fourth time. So far, he has only managed to win once at a major event: In November 2019, he surprisingly won the ATP Finals of the season’s eight best (B category), the most important tournament after the four Grand Slam events (A). In contrast, he had lost both Masters finals (C) in 2018 at the Canadian Open against Rafael Nadal and in 2019 in Madrid against Djokovic. In addition, Tsitsipas had lost all of his six ATP 500 finals (D). Apart from the 2019 ATP Finals, he has not won another major tournament to date. But the best U23 player in the world changed that today in very impressive fashion. Overall, his finals record is now as follows:

Tsitsipas ==> A tournaments: 0-0, B: 1-0, C: 1-2, D: 0-6, E: 4-0 ==> 6-8 overall

Andrey Rublev, on the other hand, was in a final of a Masters 1000 tournament for the first time ever. The 23-year-old has already played ten finals and won eight of them, but these were all D and E tournaments (ATP 500 and ATP 250). His final record is now as follows:

Rublev ==> A tournaments: 0-0, B: 0-0, C: 0-1, D: 4-1, E: 4-1 ==> 8-3 overall

That’s how many tournament victories the top eight have won so far:

A tournaments: the four Grand Slam events – B tournaments: the Olympic Games and the ATP Finals – C tournaments: the nine Masters 1000 – D tournaments: the 13 ATP 500s – E tournaments: the 40 or so ATP 250s

  1. Roger Federer (39 years): 103 tournament wins ==> 20 A – 6 B – 28 C – 24 D – 25 E
  2. Rafael Nadal (34): 86 tournament wins ==> 20 – 1 – 35 – 21 – 9
  3. Novak Djokovic (33): 82 tournament wins ==> 18 – 5 – 36 – 14 – 9
  4. Dominic Thiem (27): 17 tournament wins ==> 1 – 0 – 1 – 5 – 10
  5. Alexander Zverev (23): 14 tournament wins ==> 0 – 1 – 3 – 3 – 7
  6. Daniil Medvedev (25): 10 tournament wins ==> 0 – 1 – 3 – 1 – 5
  7. Andrey Rublev (23): 8 tournament wins ==> 0 – 0 – 0 – 4 – 4
  8. Stefanos Tsitsipas (22): 6 tournament wins ==> 0 – 1 – 1 – 0 – 4

Stefanos Tsitsipas is not only the youngest in the top eight, he finally proved today that he can win major tournaments.

The final highlights

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