2012 Monte-Carlo Tennis: Nadal vs Djokovic

When the first ball is struck on April 15 to start the 2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters singles main draw tournament, fans around the world will be anticipating a final next Sunday to feature a fascinating match-up between the top two players in the world: seven-time tournament champion and world #2 Rafael Nadal against world #1 Novak Djokovic. Djokovic holds a 2-match winning streak against Nadal on clay but make no mistake, it is Nadal who is the best clay court player the world has seen in all of tennis history.

Nadal is still the man to beat in this tournament. He has won a record seven consecutive titles in Monte-Carlo and in forty matches played in this tournament, he has won thirty nine of them, losing only once. Nadal is going for his 20th Masters 1000 crown although he hasn't won a single tournament in four tries this year. He lost to Djokovic in the finals of the Australian Open - his first and only finals match to-date. He withdrew from his semifinal last March against Andy Murray in Miami due to a left knee injury.

Nadal's main challenger is no doubt, the world #1. Djokovic is the leading contender to wrest the Monte-Carlo trophy from Nadal’s grip. The Serbian has beaten Nadal in their past seven meetings, including two clay-court finals last season. Djokovic has also beaten Nadal in the last three Grand Slam finals. Djokovic certainly holds the momentum and psychological advantage in their head-to-head match-up but look out to clay for Nadal to harness his best form.

Two other players may not pose such strong threats, but they've performed well in the Monte-Carlo tournament in the past. World #4 Murray has twice reached the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, falling to Rafael Nadal on both occasions in 2009 and 2011. He has never won an ATP World Tour clay-court title. World #6 David Ferrer has already won two ATP World Tour clay-court trophies in 2012 and will look to reach the final in Monte-Carlo for the second year in a row after losing to Nadal last year. Other seeded players in the draw who could pose a threat to the favorites include 2007 semifinalist and #7-seed Tomas Berdych, #13-seed and 2010 finalist Fernando Verdasco, #15-seed and 2011 semifinalist Jurgen Melzer. World #3 and 2009 French Open champion Roger Federer is skipping the Monte-Carlo tournament as he did last year.

The winner of the Monte-Carlo tennis tournament will take home €460,260 and 1000 ranking points while the runner-up will earn €225,680 and 600 ranking points. Below is the breakdown of the prize money and doubles ranking points per stage in the tournament:

2012 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Singles Prize Money and Ranking Points:

Points/Prize Money (Singles)
Points Prize €
W 1,000 460,260
F 600 225,680
SF 360 113,580
QF 180 57,755
R16 90 30,000
R32 45 15,810
R56 10 8,535
--
Q 25
Q3 0 0
Q2 16 1,965
Q1 0 1,000

List of Past Champions in Monte-Carlo since 2000:

Year Singles Winner
2011 Rafael Nadal
2010 Rafael Nadal
2009 Rafael Nadal
2008 Rafael Nadal
2007 Rafael Nadal
2006 Rafael Nadal
2005 Rafael Nadal
2004 Guillermo Coria
2003 Juan Carlos Ferrero
2002 Juan Carlos Ferrero
2001 Gustavo Kuerten
2000 Cedric Pioline