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Rising star Alex Eala has spoken of the positive impact of having Toni Nadal in her corner after she spent some time being mentored by him in Mallorca.

The 20-year-old is one of the most notable alumni of the Rafa Nadal Academy but even after graduating in 2023, she continues to visit the centre in order to train under the watchful eye of the Nadals.

Recently, she has had Toni Nadal watching on and spoke of her admiration for the coach.

“It’s fantastic, and I feel truly privileged to have Toni as part of my team,” she said. “If you had told me this years ago, I would have completely lost my mind; I wouldn’t have believed you.

“It’s fantastic: he has that knowledge and is able to help my team immensely, bringing all the necessary experience.”

Eala begins her clay swing in Austria on Tuesday where she will face local hero Julia Grabher, but the Filipina has been backed to be even stronger on the new surface than her hard court form.

Former world No 4 Greg Rusedski said on his Off Court With Greg Rusedski podcast that her academy training may give her the edge.

“She’s like Manny Pacquiao, and they’re always so hungry for a new superstar [in the Philippines],” said the 1997 US Open runner-up.

“She’s a lovely girl, she’s been at the Rafael Nadal Academy for multiple years. We talked about the serve getting better.

“It’s gonna be harder for people to hit a hole through her [on clay], it’s gonna be much more physically combative.

“Being at the academy with Rafa on clay, he’s spent a lot of time with her, so she knows what to do.

“I’d love to see her in the top 20; she is great for the WTA. We need more stars, we need more names, and we need new people. And she opens up a marketplace, and people just love her.

“Anywhere around the world where there are people from the Philippines, they’re always talking about her: ‘What meal can I cook for her? What can I do?’

“Automatically, her matches sell out, and for me, she is a huge, huge positive. I’d love to see her, on this surface, crack the top 20 in the world.”

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The total number of players to withdraw from the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters has risen to 11 after a Masters 1000 champion pulled out on the third day of the event.

By Thursday, six players had withdrawn from the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season, with 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic among this cohort.

The Monte Carlo Masters is staged at the Monte Carlo Country Club in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France — 150 metres from Monaco’s border.

Main draw action at this year’s Monte Carlo Masters — which is the 119th edition of the event — began on Sunday 5 May, and it will conclude with the final on Sunday 12 May.

Monte Carlo is one of just two Masters tournaments to still use the one-week, 56-player format (the Paris Masters is the other).

Carlos Alcaraz is the defending champion, having defeated Lorenzo Musetti in the 2025 championship match to win his maiden title in the Principality.

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2026 Monte Carlo Masters withdrawals

Jakub Mensik was due to face Fabian Marozsan in the first round in Monte Carlo on Tuesday, but he pulled out shortly before the match due to a toe injury.

The 20-year-old Czech, who won the 2025 Miami Open and is currently ranked 26th, was replaced by lucky loser Damir Dzumhur.

Mensik is the fourth player to pull out after the draw was made but before their opening match, following Frances Tiafoe, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Kamil Majchrzak.

There are seven players currently in the top 30 of the ATP Rankings who have withdrawn, while world No 8 Ben Shelton did not sign up for the event.

• Novak Djokovic (world No 4) – replaced by Sebastian Baez
• Taylor Fritz (world No 9) – replaced by Terence Atmane
• Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (world No 17) – replaced by Marton Fucsovics
• Frances Tiafoe (world No 20) – replaced by Matteo Arnaldi
• Jack Draper (world No 25) – replaced by Daniel Altmaier
• Jakub Mensik (world No 26) – replaced by Damir Dzumhur
• Arthur Fils (world No 28) – replaced by Miomir Kecmanovic
• Jaume Munar (world No 37) – replaced by Ethan Quinn
• Sebastian Korda (world No 41) – replaced by Roberto Bautista Agut
• Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (world No 56)
• Kamil Majchrzak (world No 60)

READ NEXT: Carlos Alcaraz reveals what he ‘regrets’ saying ahead of Monte Carlo Masters title defence

The post Monte Carlo Masters withdrawal list: 11 players out as Miami Open winner becomes 7th top 30 star appeared first on Tennis365.

Carlos Alcaraz surprisingly admitted he will “lose the No 1 of the world” in the near future given the amount of points that Jannik Sinner stands to make up.

Heading into the clay swing, just 1,190 points separated the two top-ranked players, but it is advantageous Sinner who stands to gain as much as Alcaraz does to lose, given he did not participate in Monte-Carlo last year.

That, combined with Alcaraz’s 1,000 points to defend, means Sinner will overtake Alcaraz should he reach at least the semi-finals and the Spaniard fail to retain the trophy, but Alcaraz has admitted that losing the No 1 spot is a matter of when rather than if.

“To be honest, I’m going to lose the number one of the world,” he said after his second round victory over Sebastian Baez. “I don’t know if it’s going to be in this tournament or in the next one.

“I defend a bunch of points that are going to be really difficult to defend all.

“Even if I defend them, Jannik is going to add some points in these tournaments and he doesn’t have to defend any points in this tournament.

“So I will try to play my best, and let’s see what happens.”

After Monaco, Alcaraz has 330 points to defend from Barcelona, 1,000 from the Italian Open, and then the 2,000 of the French Open.

Sinner, meanwhile, lost 2,100 points during his doping ban last year, so will have his first points to defend in Rome. There he registered 650 for being the losing finalist to Alcaraz and then a further 1,300 for the same result in Paris.

Despite this, Alcaraz insisted he was not focusing on the battle for No 1 and wanted to use Monte-Carlo as preparation for the clay swing.

“For me, the number one of the sport is not in my mind right now,” he said. “I’m just trying to feel the best way, or as good as I can on the clay court, and let’s see how it’s going to be on the clay swing.”

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Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have both booked their place in the third round of the Monte-Carlo Masters with routine wins over their respective opponents.

As is often the case with the men’s singles draws at recent tournaments, the winner is widely anticipated to be one of Alcaraz or Sinner with the top two seeds expected to reach the final come April 12.

Both of their campaigns began with dominant victories with Sinner being the first of the two to take to the court.

The Italian faced World No 34 Ugo Humbert and despite the Frenchman putting up a fight to begin with, Sinner soon took control of the match.

Having won the first set 6-3, Sinner then bageled his opponent to make it 34 consecutive sets won at Masters 1000 level.

Sinner, who played on the hard court of Miami just nine days ago, spoke of how quickly he had to change his style.

“It was a good performance today from my side,” Sinner said. “You have to change your game style and how you approach certain situations, and the first match of a new tournament is never easy as I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare.

“You need to adjust to every surface. The most difficult part is understanding how much you’re going to slide when you slide.”

With the win, Sinner took a 2-1 lead over Humbert in their head to head and will face either Francisco Cerundolo or Tomas Machac in the next round.

Shortly after Sinner had dispatched Humbert in 64 minutes, reigning champion Alcaraz took to the court to face Sebastian Baez for the fourth time in their careers.

The match initially looked like a similar story to Sinner’s with Alcaraz winning the opening set 6-1 but a lapse of concentration from the Spaniard in the second opened the door to his Argentine opponent.

Baez rallied to bring the second set to 4-3 but Alcaraz broke to take a 5-3 advantage and served out for the match.

After, Alcaraz admitted he surprised even himself with his level.

“It’s been almost a year since I last played on clay. To be honest with you, I missed it. To get my socks dirty a little bit.

“So it’s been a really good start to the tournament for me. To be honest, I surprised myself with the level.

“I thought I was going to play a little bit worse, I would say. But, you know, just happy with everything I’ve done today.

“Maybe a couple of things that I just didn’t do in the second set. I just let him get going again into the match, but you know, overall, I’m just happy to play matches again on clay and happy with today’s match.”

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Carlos Alcaraz has admitted he regrets some of the comments he made to his team during his shock loss at the 2026 Miami Open.

The world No 1 fell to a three-set defeat to Sebastian Korda in the third round of the Masters 1000 tournament in Miami last month.

Early in the second set of the match, a frustrated Alcaraz directed an outburst towards his coaching box, and his words were picked up by courtside microphones.

“I can’t take it anymore, I want to go home now, man. I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore, I can’t take it anymore,” Alcaraz declared.

Ahead of his appearance at the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters, Alcaraz addressed saying that he wanted to go home during his defeat to Korda.

“Obviously, there are things I regret saying during the match, and that’s one of them,” the seven-time Grand Slam winner told Spanish media.

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“In the end, when things aren’t going well, when you try and it doesn’t work out, there comes a point where you’re not thinking clearly and you blurt out something that you really shouldn’t have.

“But that’s how things go, you have to learn from them.”

What Samuel Lopez said about Alcaraz’s comments

Alcaraz’s coach Samuel Lopez weighed in on the 22-year-old’s comments during an interview with Eurosport Spain last month.

“Let’s see, I don’t think it should be normalised in the sense of just leaving it as it is,” said Lopez.

“But I also don’t see it as anything surprising. He’s 22, and you have to make him understand that these kinds of comments have a lot of impact, especially outside the team. Internally, we knew how we arrived in Miami and what the situation was.

“He has to try to control those impulses that he has: he has always had them, and less and less each time.

“He has to control them, especially for the opponent, both the player and the opposing team, not to show those weaknesses in certain moments.

“But beyond that, it’s a way of expressing himself and releasing some of the tension and fatigue that builds up. There’s no need to give it more importance.”

READ NEXT: Stefanos Tsitsipas needs ‘serious soul-searching’ after ‘disastrous’ Monte Carlo Masters display

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Stefanos Tsitsipas is set for another big rankings drop after his woes continued with an opening round defeat to Francisco Cerundolo at the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters.

The Greek, who is a three-time former champion in Monte Carlo, fell to a 7-5, 6-4 loss to world No 19 Cerundolo at the prestigious Masters 1000 tournament.

Tsitsipas led 5-3 in the opening set, but his 27-year-old Argentine opponent won four straight games to turn it around.

In the second set, Tsitsipas battled back to 4-4 having trailed 0-4 — only to lose his serve in the ninth game before Cerundolo sealed the win.

Tsitsipas held an outstanding 22-4 record in Monte Carlo across his seven previous appearances prior to this year’s event, and he had never lost in the first round. He secured the title in 2021, 2022 and 2024, and he had not lost before the quarter-finals since 2019.

Former ATP player Rob Koenig addressed Tsitsipas’ struggles and decline over the past year while commentating on the match for Tennis TV.

“2025, he wins Dubai, but there were definitely some cracks appearing in his game,” said the South African.

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“Of course, it came to defending those points [from his 2024 Monte Carlo title], the ranking drops and after Monte Carlo last year he dropped out of the top 10.

“And he’s been on a slow decline for the last 12 months now. And even at a tournament where he’s had so much success, he just can’t find anything today.”

How does Tsitsipas’ defeat affect his ranking?

Tsitsipas was ranked 48th at the start of Monte Carlo with 995 points, but his opening round exit means he has dropped 180 points after he was a quarter-finalist at last year’s edition of the event.

As a result, Tsitsipas has suffered a significant 16-place drop to world No 64 in the Live ATP Rankings.

This is the latest rankings blow for Tsitsipas, who was ranked 30th in February before losing points he gained in Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami in 2025.

The 27-year-old, who is a two-time Grand Slam finalist, was the world No 8 exactly a year ago when he played the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters.

READ NEXT: ATP Rankings: Alcaraz under pressure from Sinner; Shelton back as American No 1, Jodar +32, Trungelliti +41

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Carlos Alcaraz has criticised the lack of privacy for players at tournaments as he called for “spaces where we can be alone without being filmed.”

The world No 1 was speaking at the 2026 Monte Carlo Masters, where he is the reigning champion having won the prestigious clay-court event for the first time last year.

Coco Gauff raised the topic of player privacy in January after Australian Open cameras showed her breaking a racket in a corridor after her quarter-final loss to Elina Svitolina.

“I tried to go somewhere where they wouldn’t broadcast it, but obviously they did,” said the American star.

“So maybe some conversations can be had because I feel like at this tournament the only private place we have is the locker room.”

In his pre-tournament press conference in Monte Carlo, Alcaraz was asked about the increasing prominence of cameras at tournaments.

“For the fans, it’s great. They love seeing what goes on behind the scenes, what we do, what the facilities inside the tournaments look like,” said the seven-time Grand Slam winner.

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“But for the players, it’s a bit strange, because we don’t really have anywhere to relax anymore, because we’re constantly thinking there are cameras and that everyone is watching us.

“Having cameras so close, able to see what we’re watching on our phones, I think that’s too much.

“We already don’t have much privacy in tournaments, and I think this is too much. We should have spaces where we can be alone without being filmed.”

The 22-year-old Spaniard also spoke about his mentality for his title defence in Monte Carlo.

“It’s a new year, new sensations, new things to improve, new things I think about in training and matches,” Alcaraz said.

“I’m going to try to prepare as well as possible for the first match and for the coming week. I’m not thinking about defending a title. It’s about how I feel, and right now, I’m just trying to have good feelings.”

On the start of the clay season, Alcaraz added: “It is probably one of the best surfaces, without a doubt. I miss clay every time the season ends. I miss it a lot. It had been a long time since I played on clay; it felt like an eternity.

“The first sessions I did were to get back into rhythm, to tell myself, ‘Alright, it’s time to dirty my socks again.’ Honestly, it’s an incredible feeling to be back on clay.”

READ NEXT: ATP Rankings: Alcaraz under pressure from Sinner; Shelton back as American No 1, Jodar +32, Trungelliti +41

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The battle for the No 1 spot in the ATP Rankings is set to be decided at the Monte Carlo Masters, but Carlos Alcaraz’s comments about Jannik Sinner suggest he didn’t expect to be a man under pressure this week.

Alcaraz has been at the top of the rankings since last October, but Sinner’s Sunshine Double has helped him to close the gap to the Spaniard and he is now the hot favourite to return to the top after the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the year.

The Italian won both the Indian Wells Open and the Miami Open, earning 2,000 points in total as he didn’t have any points to defend from the 2025 season

Alcaraz managed to add only 40 points to his total as he defended his 400 points from last year in California and then went one round better in Florida for those 40 points.

As a result, the seven-time Grand Slam winner has seen his massive 3,190-point lead turn into a mere 1,190-point advantage ahead of the clay-court season.

And there is more bad news as Alcaraz is the defending champion in Monte Carlo and he will drop 1,000 points while his rival doesn’t have any points to defend so the lead is effectively just 190 points.

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Ahead of the ATP 1000 event in the Principality, Alcaraz admitted that he didn’t expect the world No 2 to play in Monte Carlo following his title runs at the two recent events, perhaps indicating that he didn’t expect a No 1 showdown this week, but he was also full of praise for the Italian.

“Honestly, I was surprised that Jannik, after Indian Wells, Miami, and the whole tour, came to Monte Carlo to play, but obviously that speaks to the great physical condition he’s in right now, what he’s capable of,” he said.

After meeting in six finals during the 2025 season – including three consecutive Grand Slams – Alcaraz and Sinner are yet to face each other so far in 2026.

Alcaraz won titles at the Australian Open and Qatar Open with his rival losing in the semi-finals in Melbourne and the quarter-final in Doha while the Spaniard lost in the semi-final in Indian Wells and the third round in Miami, where Sinner went on to lift the trophies.

They are, of course, on opposite sides of the draw in Monte Carlo so can only meet in the final.

“Hopefully, we can play here in Monte Carlo, who knows, but obviously we haven’t played together yet this year and I hope that happens on this clay court tour,” Alcaraz said.

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Novak Djokovic has been warned that his hopes of a 25th Grand Slam title could be impacted by his decision to pull out of tournaments and play a limited schedule.

The Serbian great has admitted his motivation to perform in ATP Masters 1000 tournaments has waned as his record-breaking career winds towards a conclusion, with his move withdrawal from the Miami Open last month backed up by a move to pull out of this week’s Monte Carlo Masters.

Those decisions have had an impact on Djokovic’s ranking, with Alexander Zverev replacing him as world No 3 in the updated list.

While the push for ranking points is not a priority for Djokovic in this phase of his career, former British No 1 Greg Rusedski has warned his lack of tournament play could have an impact on his hopes of winning another major title.

So long as Djokovic stays in the top four of the rankings, he will avoid potential clashes with world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and No 2 Jannik Sinner until the semi-finals of Grand Slam events.

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Yet Rusedski has suggested Djokovic will need to play more often to ensure he is not sliding down the rankings.

“I think either Madrid or Rome will be his first week and then he will get ready for Roland Garros,” said Rusedski on the latest edition of his podcast

“It’s not about ranking points. It’s about where he’s seeded. He does need points to be in the top four.

“To win a major these days, you gotta usually go through Alcaraz and Sinner. Then imagine if he drops out of the top four, he might have to play [Alexander] Zverev.

“So for him, the important thing is keeping that top four ranking to give himself a shot at Wimbledon.”

Djokovic has not confirmed the reason for his withdrawal from Monte Carlo, but he has not been on court in a competitive environment since a draining defeat against Jack Draper at the Indian Wells Masters last month.

The good news for Djokovic is he has limited ranking points to defend over the next few weeks, so he may be able to get away with missing the Monte Carlo and maybe also the Madrid Masters and still hang on to a top four ranking.

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He will have plenty of ranking points to defend by the time he gets to the French Open after his semi-final run at Roland Garros last year, so Djokovic has some big decisions to make in what may be his final year challenging for major titles.

The Serbian will celebrate his 39th birthday last month and while he has had some big wins over top players in the last two years, notably against Sinner at the Australian Open in January, his lack of tournament appearances leaves him lacking match sharpness when he does make rare appearances.

READ NEXT: Novak Djokovic cannot be called the GOAT of tennis, claims former Wimbledon champion

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Alex Eala will face local hero Julia Grabher in the first round of the Linz Open in Austria with the pair separated by 43 places in the rankings.

It will be the Filipina No 1 against the Austria No 1 for a place in the second round of the WTA 1000 open in what will be a first-career meeting between the pair.

World No 46 Eala and Grabher have ended up in the top half of the draw and they find themselves in the same section as fourth seed Jelena Ostapenko with the winner going on to meet the 2017 French Open winner.

Eala, of course, has grabbed a lot of headlines the past year as she became the first Filipina to not only reach the top 100 of the WTA Rankings, but later the top 50 and the top 40. However, she has dropped back to No 46 after she lost in the last 16 at the Miami Open.

But let’s find out more about her first-round opponent at the Linz Open.

Who is Julia Grabner?

The 29-year-old Grabner hails from Dornbirn, Austria, and she only made her WTA Tour-level debut at the age of 23 in 2019 when she received a wildcard into the Linz event.

She has been a formidable player at ITF level as she has won 16 titles from August 2015 until April 2025 while she also had success on the WTA Challenger Tour, winning the Bari Open in 2022 and the Florianópolis Open in 2025.

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Grabner reached her maiden WTA Tour final in May 2023, but finished runner-up against Lucia Bronzetti and she went on to peak at No 53 in the WTA Rankings in June that year.

The 2023 season also delivered her first Grand Slam singles match win as that came at the French Open as she beat Aranxta Rus before losing in the second round.

The Austrian started the year at No 92, but she broke back into the top 80 with a win at the Australian Open, but currently sits at No 87.

Recent Form

The 29-year-old has played on the WTA Challenger Tour recently with her last match at the Megasaray Hotels Open in March, where she lost in the second round. She is 3-8 so far in 2026.

When Will The Match Take Place

The first-round clash has been scheduled for Tuesday, 7 April, but the order of play will only be released by organisers on Monday afternoon.

However, given Eala’s massive fan base and the fact that Grabner is a local, the match will likely be a feature match on Centre Court.

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