Monte-Carlo is always one of my favourite ATP events of the year.  I love the setting and once again, it has attracted a stellar line-up. Originally I said that I would write previews for Monte-Carlo this week but i’m having second thoughts! I’m looking forward to at least watching some ATP tennis this week although it’s normally all finished by the time i’m home from work so i’ll probably pick out the match of the day and catch up on TennisTV in the evening!  The two highlights from the draw are that Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have drawn into the same half, and Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka, last year’s finalists, are in the same quarters.  First round action has already begun and this always bugs me! Why bother with three first round matches  and also, when qualifying hasn’t even finished? Anyway, here are a few thoughts about some of the first round matches.

First round matches of interest:

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga v Sam Querrey: The last time that Tsonga and Querrey played was at Wimbledon on arguably both players’ favourite surface.  Tsonga won in five sets, 14-12 in the fifth set.  The quality during parts of that match was sensational.  On the clay, I don’t have such high hopes! However, Querrey has just reached a final in Houston on the clay with wins over Steve Johnson, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.  Tsonga has only played one tournament this year in Miami and clay isn’t his best surface.  I’d fancy the Frenchman to win this one with Querrey having little time to prepare for Monte-Carlo.

Dominic Thiem v Lucas Pouille: This match between two 21-year-olds stood out on the drawsheet.  I’m a big fan of Thiem and it was encouraging to see him reach the quarter-finals of Miami having won just two main draw matches on tour this year.  He seems like a really decent chap and his backhand is glorious to watch.  Pouille is another interesting up-and-coming player and I saw one of his matches in Montpellier where he should have won at least a set against Richard Gasquet.  On clay where Thiem is at his strongest, I’d back him for the win.

Steve Johnson v John Isner: Both players are coming from Houston, but neither made it past the quarter-finals so they should be ready for this one.  Isner lost in straight sets to Teymuraz Gabashvili in Houston, which was a little surprising.  However, it did remind me that Gabashvili was mildly relevant on the clay last year.  Johnson continues to enjoy solid results on tour and has won at least two matches at five of his nine tournaments this year.  In the five sets they have played, four of them have been tiebreaks.  This will be their first clay court match and i’d go for Isner.

Jiri Vesely v Juan Monaco: Vesely won a couple of matches in Casablanca, which snapped a seven match losing streak that stretched all the way to Auckland.  Vesely won his first tournament in New Zealand but had endured a miserable run since then.  He goes up against Monaco, who has had some excellent results this year.  The Argentine is back up to number 39 in the rankings with quarter-final appearances in Rio and Indian Wells, and a final showing in Buenos Aires.  I do admire Vesely and I think he’s one to watch for the future… Monaco likes the clay though and should have some momentum from recent results.

Fabio Fognini v Jerzy Janowicz: Well this should be fun………… Fabio has legitimately turned up to one singles tournament this year.  He played some superb tennis in Rio where he beat Rafael Nadal en route to the final.  Janowicz has actually had a respectable year; he reached the final in Montpellier where he was forced to pull out through illness and made the third round of Melbourne and Indian Wells.  You never know what you’re going to get with Fabio but if he actually cares, he should win this match.

Fernando Verdasco v Grigor Dimitrov: This was the stand-out of the first rounders for me.  Dimitrov has stalled this year and he hasn’t been given an easy ride from the draw gods this week.  Verdasco has played the top tenners reasonably well this year; he pushed Djokovic hard in the first set of their third round match in Australia.  He beat Nadal in Miami and also won a set off Nishikori in Indian Wells.  Dimitrov’s mentality has been suspect this year and he needs a good result somewhere to right the ship.  Both previous matches have gone the distance and Verdasco won their match on clay in 2013.  Verdasco is capable of the upset, but i’ll give Dimitrov the benefit of the doubt.

Borna Coric v Alexandr Dolgopolov: Any match with Dolgopolov is always fun to watch even though some of his off-court comments have tainted my view of him.  Coric is obviously one to watch and he has been enjoying some solid results on tour.  His glory moment of the year so far came in Dubai where he comprehensively defeated Andy Murray.  It’s pretty impressive for an 18-year-old to have already beaten Nadal and Murray, even though both players weren’t at their best on the day.  I’d take Dolgo in this one as he seems to be recovered from injuries and playing well again.

Final Prediction: Djokovic d. Federer

As far as the whole draw goes, i’m becoming less interested in the tournament previews where there are byes in the draw.  Anyway, full predictions can be found HERE.  As ever, come at me with your predictions 🙂 Anyone going against Djokovic?