JANNIK SINNER DEFIES ALCARAZ'S EXPECTATIONS BY MOVING FROM MIAMI HARD TO MONTE CARLO CLAY
The Alcaraz-Sinner rivalry heats up! Read about the Miami to clay transition and the fight for the Monte Carlo title.
Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner have both kicked off their Monte Carlo Masters runs with solid wins, and fans are already hoping they’ll clash in the final, eager for their first big showdown of the 2026 season.
Last year, these two met pretty often, and honestly, it still feels like Sinner has some unfinished business on clay. In 2025, Sinner had to miss most of the clay-court swing because of his three-month ban, so he’s not really defending many points this year. That’s one reason why Alcaraz was pretty surprised to see his rival show up in Monte Carlo. He actually thought Sinner would give this one a miss, and he even admitted he was caught off guard when that didn’t happen.
At his latest press conference, someone asked Alcaraz to explain why he figured Sinner would skip Monte Carlo, especially after winning in Miami and jumping right into a new tournament so fast. Alcaraz didn’t sound too shocked at his own reaction, but he gave an honest answer: “We’re always guessing where guys will play. Sinner had a really long run in Indian Wells and Miami, a lot of matches, a big swing. There’s only about a week between Miami and Monte Carlo. The time zone, the surface, the balls, it’s all different. Switching from hard to clay that quickly, without much prep, is tough. But at the end of the day, if he’s here, it means he feels good physically and mentally, and he’s obviously excited to compete.”
He went on: “I was definitely surprised. He’s played so many matches on hard courts lately, barely had a break, and had to switch to clay with hardly any prep time. But then you see him playing doubles and looking sharp right away. That just shows the kind of player he is; he can adapt to anything, and fast.”
Alcaraz, for his part, knows he’s likely to lose the number one ranking to Sinner soon. The gap in their points for the next few months is just too big. Still, he figures it depends on how things go here in Monte Carlo, so at least it isn’t a done deal yet.
Here’s where the rankings race stands: there are a few scenarios in play for Sinner to overtake Alcaraz and become number one again. Honestly, it all comes down to how Alcaraz performs. If Sinner wins the title in Monte Carlo, he’ll jump back to number one, no questions asked. If Sinner doesn’t make at least the semifinals, Alcaraz keeps his spot. If Sinner reaches the semis and Alcaraz loses before the quarters, or if Sinner makes the final and Alcaraz doesn’t, Sinner takes the top spot.
Either way, this rivalry’s heating up again, and tennis fans are in for a treat.
DANIIL MEDVEDEV SUFFERS THE FIRST SCORELESS LOSS OF HIS CAREER IN MONTE CARLO
Daniil Medvedev suffers a 6-0, 6-0 defeat to Matteo Berrettini. Discover the stats behind his Monte Carlo meltdown now.
Daniil Medvedev’s meltdown at the Monte Carlo Masters was wild. He smashed his racket and lost 6-0, 6-0 to Matteo Berrettini, just a brutal defeat for someone who’s usually in the top 10.
Medvedev didn’t win a single game in his first clay match this season. Berrettini, who was once the Wimbledon runner-up, cruised right into the third round.
After Medvedev dropped the first set 6-0, things got even uglier. He lost his serve for the fourth straight time, and suddenly he was down 2-0 in the second set. That’s when he snapped. He whipped his racket into the back fence, then slammed it into the clay four times. The crowd ate it up, getting louder with each hit. Medvedev tossed what was left of his shattered racket into the bin. Berrettini rattled off four more games to finish Medvedev in under 50 minutes, the worst defeat Medvedev’s ever had.
Clay isn’t Medvedev’s thing, honestly. He’s crashed out in the first round at the French Open twice in the last four years. But this year, he’s looked better, making the Indian Wells final last month and grabbing hard-court titles in Brisbane and Dubai.
Medvedev’s stats from this match are ugly. He made 27 unforced errors and hit only three winners. Out of 33 service points, he won just nine. He picked up only 17 points across the whole match. He did put Berrettini under a tiny bit of pressure in the opening game, getting two break points, but that was about it.
Berrettini barely broke a sweat. He hasn’t dropped a game in Monte Carlo yet; his first-round opponent, Roberto Bautista Agut, retired while trailing 4-0.
The Italian’s reaction said it all. He got into Monte Carlo with a wildcard, and he’s been dealing with injuries all season, but he looked amazed at how solid his game was here. “Definitely one of the best performances of my life,” he said.
He added, “I think I missed three shots in the whole match, and that’s not easy against a tricky player like Daniil. My game plan was spot-on, and all my shots worked. I had two break points in the first game, so I had to push. You never expect to win so easily. One break, two breaks, usually it’s not enough, so I just kept going.”
ANDY MURRAY CONFIRMS HE "PROBABLY WOULD" RETURN TO COACHING IN THE FUTURE
Andy Murray tells The Athletic he’s open to a coaching return but slams "easy" tennis punditry in a candid update.
Andy Murray said he “probably would” consider a return to coaching in the future but admitted his “priorities are lying elsewhere just now.”
Since hanging up his racket in August 2024, Murray has largely kept himself away from tennis instead focusing on his business ventures and a passion for golf, but he did return to the court in November 2024 to serve as Novak Djokovic’s head coach for the following year.
That relationship ended in May 2025, but Murray has now said he would be open to returning to the role.
“I think at some stage I probably would (consider a return to coaching),” Murray told The Athletic.
“My priorities are lying elsewhere just now, but I would do it again in the future.
“I do like the idea of helping a much younger player, a little bit like not that I would expect it to turn out like this, the (Juan Carlos) Ferrero-(Carlos) Alcaraz relationship.
“A younger player that you’re really able to help and have a really positive influence on. I would find something like that quite interesting, but certainly not right now.”
Another popular post-playing career for any athlete is punditry, but Murray has had limited experience of that to date, suggesting it is not really something he has an interest in currently.
“My feeling is that punditry in general, particularly when you have a name within the sport, is quite easy,” he said.
“There are some people who are very good at it. Jim Courier and Andy Roddick were great at the game, but also love the game and are very well researched and speak really, really well and are very passionate about it. And do the job extremely well. They’re not just turning up because they’re getting paid and just throwing out random comments, having not really watched the players and not really thinking much about what they’re saying.
“So it can be done extremely well, but I don’t think that’s always the case. And I think tennis needs to sort of improve the way that they do punditry, but it’s not something that right now I’m massively into doing. I wouldn’t rule out doing it in the future, but I don’t really want to do it right now.”
