Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner could be set for a winner-takes-all championship match in Monte Carlo with both players mathematically able to walk away from the tournament as world No 1.
With the Sunshine Double both won by Sinner, the Italian has closed the gap between himself and Alcaraz at the top of the rankings.
Heading into Monaco, there are 1,190 ranking points between them but Sinner could make that up in just one tournament.
After he was banned for doping last year, Sinner missed out on any of the 1,000 points on offer from the ATP event, meaning any progression in this year’s tournament will add to his tally.
Alcaraz’s tally meanwhile can only stay the same or go down after he won the tournament, and the full 1,000 ranking points, last year.
This means that should Sinner reach the semi-final of the tournament, he gives himself a chance of reaching the no 1 spot. If Sinner reaches the final, the only way Alcaraz can prevent the Italian from moving to no 1 is by winning the whole tournament, meaning we could be in store for a winner takes all final between the pair.
Next week sees Alcaraz begin his 66th week as No 1, matching the total weeks spent by Sinner in the top spot.
The fact Sinner is even in contention shows how quickly the tide has swung in his favour with Alcaraz having started the year with the Australian Open and the Qatar Open.
Despite the possibility of Alcaraz being dethroned, his coach Samuel Lopez has insisted it is not their main thought.
“Let’s see, in principle we’re going with the idea of playing everything, of playing the whole swing, you know,” revealed Lopez during an interview with Eurosport ES.
“Monte Carlo – if things had gone well, if things had gone better in Miami – we would probably have skipped it.
“But in this case, well, Monte Carlo is going to be more of a preparation tournament.
“The thing is, you already know that sometimes those preparation tournaments… you get up to speed very quickly. But for us, Monte Carlo is more like last year.
“What happens is that last year things worked out and in the end it was won, but in the end going to the first clay tournament and winning it, well, for almost everyone it’s the first clay tournament, so almost everyone is in the same conditions.
“The idea is to try to manage it and arrive as well as possible at Roland Garros, at 100%. We’ll see what happens along the way.”
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