With the opening of Monte Carlo Country Club Portes, Clay Court’s season begins.
Let’s take a look at five urgent questions while the tennis tour is getting red …
Can Jack Draper be a threat of any surface?
A memory that stayed with me from last season was the view of Jack Draper collapsed on his chair after a horrible defeat in the first round in Roland Garros. The Dutch qualifier Jesper de Jong, world No176, had played well, but Draper was a perfect stereotype of the British on the clay – slippery and sliding and generally looking by the sands changing under his feet.
The percentage of victories of the world’s NO6 on clay is 45%, against 65% on the hard and 68% on the grass – but there is really no reason why it does not turn into a very fine. As a child, he wore heightless highs to copy his compatriot Idol on the left Rafael Nadal – you may have heard that he was rather decent on red dirt – and there are precise similarities with the Grand Spanish in the way he strikes his forehand.
He could make with the addition of a little more height on his back on this surface, and his work in progress on the kick service becomes more urgent, but in the coming months, Draper can prove that he is a threat on the three surfaces.
A overwhelming victory over Marcos Giron in his first game at Monte Carlo on Tuesday evening was a perfect start for this company.
The victory of the first round of Jack Draper at Monte Carlo was the perfect start of his clay season
Can Emma Raducanu finally settle with a new coach?
Emma Raducanu keeps her head down. After withdrawing the Davis Cup team from Great Britain for their qualifications in the Netherlands this week, I am told that she trains far from the National Tennis Center-far from the prying eyes.
Until now, it has been a tumultuous year and busy for the most mercury player in this country. There was the test of a harasser and Raducanu made the worst series of his career, six defeats in seven. It was followed by her best tournament since her victory for the US Open in 2021 when she reached Miami quarter -finals, losing a near Jessica Pegula.
More importantly, from a pre-season rear spasm, it has remained entirely in shape and played seven almost consecutive events. It is a huge credit for the work that she devoted to the fitness coach Yutaka Nakamura.
But the absence of a coach is always a black hole in his configuration and she should really try to lock this before her next tournament. As she did in Miami, she likes to turn to the ad hoc advisers of her junior days, but it is not a lasting strategy. It’s time to choose a coach and stay with them – at least until the end of Wimbledon.
Emma Raducanu should try to lock a new coach before his next tournament
How is the anti-hero’s return price?
The absence of the ban by Jannik Sinner offered other dogs to observe the opportunity, but they have rather managed instead. Carlos Alcaraz won an OK field in Rotterdam but did nothing else, Alexander Zverev was appalling and Novak Djokovic, although he found a form in Miami, could not finish the work. Instead, he increased the Draper and Jakub Mensik puppies which took advantage of the first two master’s degrees of the year.
Will Sinner return to galvanize Zverev and Alcaraz? Or will the Italian transfer his domination of hard shorts over clay and grass? It would be logical for the sinner to focus on the end of his game setting for his two lower surfaces during his forced absence of the tour.
His three -month ban on just before the Italian opening in Rome seemed practical at the time – imagine if he returns now with a swollen game and leaves his rivals even further in the dust.
Jannik Sinner’s main rivals have weakened in the absence of Italian during his doping ban
Can IGA Swiatek be dethroned?
The 700 -words heart cry from Iga Swiatek in response to the criticism she received for having succeeded in a ball that almost struck a ball gave the impression of a mind in a turmoil. She spoke of being broken by the pressure of trying to regain her world place n ° 1 by Aryna Sabalenka. The post has played good tennis in patches this year, but is still unit since Roland Garros from last year.
Last year, she started a series of 26 victories in 28 games on Clay and the wait is a return to her favorite surface will see a balance of balance. But with Sabalenka showing remarkable coherence and Mirra Andreeva increasing, it is far from certain that Swiatek will dominate European spring.
If his bad shape bleeds in clay, IGA fans should really start to worry.
IGA Swiatek was the dominant force on clay but could face greater opposition this season
Will the British really win matches?
The tradition goes at that time of the year when hedgehogs and badgers emerge from hibernation, British tennis players enter it. Last year between the seven British men and women who played matches at Clay tour in this phase of the season, they managed a miserable record of 11 victories and 29 defeats. No one exceeded a quarter -final and at the Open de France, the six participants lost in the first round.
Are we going to deplore the lack of clay terrains in this first week in Roland Garros again? As we said previously, Draper should school this trend this year, but there could be thin picking differently. Raducanu is unpredictable as always, Katie Boulter is in the form and always a relative novice on Clay, and Jacob Fearnley did not play a single match on the dirt of her career.
The one who could surprise Sonay Kartal. From the GB colors this week in The Hague, his defensive game and Topspinny should lend himself to Clay.
Sonay Kartal could surprise while British players are looking to win clay victory
The winner of the Grand Colem hopes to help tame Rublev
What a pleasure to see Marat Safe back to tennis. One of the most enigmatic and intriguing personalities of sport, the double champion of the Grand Slam and former Russian politician joined the team of coaches of the compatriot Andrey Rublev.
Rublev sadly fought to contain his boiling emotions on the ground and there is no one better to refer to him than a man who estimated that he had broken between 700 and 1,000 snowshoes in his career.
Rublev is a charismatic and safin figure, with his hexagonal sunglasses, always looks like one of the coolest cats in sport. The world No9 says that it wants the partnership to continue for many years – let’s hope it is.
Marat Safin, on the left, joined the team of coaches from Andrey Rublev and could help his Russian colleague
Monte Carlo a welcome return of a week’s master’s degree
As it is refreshing to enjoy a one -week Masters event in Monte Carlo. While more and more events extend over more than 10 days, it is good to remember what a tournament looks like packaged hours and packaged stands.
Masters of two weeks mean more money for the tournament and tours, but they are horrible for fans, with much fewer games per day. Players do not like them either: yes, they get a few days off in the middle of the tournament, but they prefer to use the additional week to rest, train or play properly elsewhere.
The Grand Chelem should last two weeks (not 15 days, a chickenpox on Sunday departures), each other event should be a week. Simple.
Monte Carlo is a welcome and rare masters tournament in the tennis calendar
One to look
Arthur Fil.
The 20-year-old Frenchman has shaped his game through the compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and he certainly has the same explosive and irrepressible energy. Already until the world No. 15, it is almost certain to remain French n ° 1 in Roland Garros – with all the attention and pressure that will bring.
The rising star Arthur son is the one to look while he heads for the French Open as a No1 of France
