The draw for the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters has been revealed, with all of the top three seeds \u2013 Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic \u2013 being handed tough opening matches.<\/p>\n
At the most recent edition, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 to lift his third trophy in the principality.<\/p>\n
Past winners include Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andrey Rublev, Fabio Fognini, and Stan Wawrinka.<\/p>\n
World No 4 Taylor Fritz and world No 22 Hubert Hurkacz both withdrew due to injury. Miomir Kecmanovic replaced in the Pole, whilst Roberto Bautista-Agut took the American\u2019s place.<\/p>\n
At the top of the draw, top seed Zverev<\/a> will face either a qualifier or \u2013 more likely \u2013 Matteo Berrettini in his opening match. The German will be seeking to somewhat close the gap between himself and Jannik Sinner, whose suspension from competing will end in May.<\/p>\n Berrettini and Zverev have met on clay on three occasions, splitting two meetings in Rome, before the higher-seeded player won their 2021 Madrid final. However, the Italian did win their last meeting \u2013 with a straight-sets win in the third round of Wimbledon<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n Should Zverev get past the former Grand Slam finalist, he would face one of Lorenzo Musetti \u2013 \u00a0the 13th<\/sup> seed \u2013 Sebastian Korda, and Jiri Lehecka in the third round. All of the potential opponents have solid clay-court resumes, with Musetti winning both of their meetings last season \u2013 including one on the red brick surface.<\/p>\n Stefanos Tsitsipas and Holger Rune are the other two seeds in this quarter. Zverev would undoubtedly rather face the Dane, winning their last three encounters, with the Greek holding a 5-1 clay-court record over the world No 2.<\/p>\n Djokovic will be looking to make a quick turnaround from his tough Miami Open final loss against Jakub Mensik, and may need to be at a high level to defeat Stan Wawrinka. The three-time Grand Slam champion will be the Serb\u2019s opening opponent, should he get past a qualifier.<\/p>\n Whilst out of form and past his prime, the Swiss is at his most dangerous on the clay \u2013 particularly in the early rounds.<\/p>\n Grigor Dimitrov awaits in the third round, with Jan-Lennard Struff and Nicolas Jarry as other potential options. The Bulgarian got hammered by the 24-time Grand Slam champion in Miami, but may take solace in his last clay-court meeting with Djokovic \u2013 a three-set battle \u2013 as well as his sole victory arriving on the same surface.<\/p>\n At the bottom of the top half of the draw, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur will compete for a spot in the last eight. Should the two meet, it promises to be a tight affair, with the Australian winning their only clay-court meeting at Roland Garros in 2024 \u2013 however, there are signs of the Russian\u2019s level improving over recent weeks.<\/p>\n Defending finalist Casper Ruud has had an unremarkable season so far, with a 12-4 record.<\/p>\n The Norwegian opens against either Robert Bautista-Agut or Brandon Nakashima, with the Spaniard having significantly greater clay-court prowess and a 3-1 head-to-head over Ruud.<\/p>\n Frances Tiafoe has a 6-6 record in 2025, failing to get consecutive victories at any tournament. The American is Ruud\u2019s projected third-round opponent and would be the heavy underdog, should they both meet.<\/p>\n 2025 Indian Wells champion Jack Draper is the event\u2019s fifth seed and sits at the top of the bottom half of the draw \u2013 with Ben Shelton the other seed in his section. Both lefties lack clay-court experience, in a section which contains \u2018dirt ballers\u2019 such as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Tomas Etcheverry.<\/p>\n Ruud has yet to meet Draper and has won his last two matches against Shelton, including one on clay.<\/p>\n Alcaraz, the tournament\u2019s second seed, may have won many clay-court titles, but is yet to win a match in Monaco. In 2022, he lost a three-set match to Sebastian Korda and withdrew due to injury at the last two editions.<\/p>\n It won\u2019t start easily for the Spaniard, facing the winner of Fabio Fognini and Francisco Cerundolo. The Italian won the title in 2019, where he defeated 11-time champion Rafael Nadal along the way, but has yet to meet the Argentine.<\/p>\n Should he collect his maiden victory, in-form Felix Auger-Aliassime \u2013 who has won two titles in 2025 \u2013 lies in waiting, with retiring Richard Gasquet and Matteo Arnaldi as other options.<\/p>\n In the last eight, 2023 champion Andrey Rublev is Alcaraz\u2019s projected opponent, with Frenchman Arthur Fils, who loves the clay, also competing for a quarter-final spot.<\/p>\n \u2018He was a little soft\u2019 \u2013 Former world No 1 on playing a young Roger Federer<\/a><\/p>\n Rafael Nadal fears tennis heading in wrong direction as it refuses to evolve<\/a><\/p>\n Francisco Cerundolo vs Fabio Fognini<\/p>\n Daniil Medvedev vs Karen Khachanov<\/p>\n Ben Shelton vs Alejandro Davidovich Fokina<\/p>\n Sebastian Korda vs Jiri Lehecka<\/p>\n Richard Gasquet vs Flavio Arnaldi<\/p>\n The post 2025 Monte Carlo draw \u2013 Novak Djokovic may face Stan Wawrinka in opening match, as Nadal-slayer looms for Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The draw for the 2025 Monte Carlo Masters has been revealed, with all of the top three seeds \u2013 Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, and Novak Djokovic \u2013 being handed tough opening matches. At the most recent edition, Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Casper Ruud 6-1, 6-4 to lift his third trophy in the principality. Past winners include […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-252","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=252"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Novak Djokovic\u2019s Quarter<\/h4>\n
Casper Ruud\u2019s Quarter<\/h4>\n
Carlos Alcaraz\u2019s Quarter<\/h4>\n
Latest ATP News<\/h3>\n
Best first-round matches<\/h4>\n