MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS: PREVIEW & DAY 1 MEDIA NOTES Sunday, April 10, 2016 Monte-Carlo Country Club, Monte-Carlo, Monaco | April 10-17, 2016 Draw: S-56, D-24 | Prize Money: €3,748,925 | Surface: Outdoor Clay ATP Info: Tournament Info: ATP PR & Marketing: www.ATPWorldTour.com www.MonteCarloTennisMasters.com Nanette Duxin: [email protected] @ATPWorldTour @MCRolexMasters Florent Girod: [email protected] facebook.com/ATPWorldTour facebook.com/MonteCarloRolexMasters Stephanie Natal: [email protected] instagram.com/ATPWorldTour instagram.com/MonteCarloRolexMastersOfficial Press Room: +33 4 93 41 79 58 MONTE-CARLO TALKING POINTS EUROPEAN CLAY SWING: The European clay court circuit begins with the third ATP Masters 1000 tournament of the season as the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters gets underway Sunday at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. This is the first of three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments played on clay (Madrid, Rome). The outstanding field features nine of the Top 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings (first time since 2009). Overall, there are 15 of the Top 20 in the 56-player draw. It’s also the first time since 2009 the Big Four of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are playing together in Monte-Carlo. They have combined to win 90 ATP Masters 1000 titles. There are three former champions in the field: Djokovic (2013, ’15), Stan Wawrinka (2014) and Nadal (2005-12). DAY 1 PREVIEW: There are two main draw singles matches on Sunday with Jeremy Chardy, hoping to end a four-match losing streak dating back to the Delray Beach quarter-finals (l. to del Potro), up against Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov, the winner of their two previous encounters in 2016. Another Frenchman, Gilles Simon is going up against Viktor Troicki, who has not won a set against the No. 15 seed in their five previous showdowns. Qualifying also concludes today. BIG FOUR DOMINATION: In 50 of the past 54 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (since ’10 Monte- Carlo), one of the Big Four: Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal has lifted the trophy. During that stretch, Djokovic has won 23 titles, Nadal 12, Federer 8 and Murray 7. The only exceptions came at ’10 Paris-Bercy (Soderling), ‘12 Paris-Bercy (Ferrer), ’14 Monte-Carlo (Wawrinka) and ’14 Toronto (Tsonga). NOVAK ON A ROLL: Reigning champion Djokovic is playing in Monte-Carlo for the 10th time in 11 years (except ’11) and the two-time winner (’13, ’15) has reached the semi-finals or better in his past seven appearances. Overall he has a 28-7 career record. The 28-year-old Serb is off to a 28-1 start this season, winning his 11th career Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open and capturing the first two ATP Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Miami for the third straight year and fourth overall (’11). Djokovic has won the past four ATP Masters 1000 titles going back to Shanghai last season. Since the beginning of last year Djokovic has compiled a 110-7 match record, winning 15 titles in 19 finals (21 tournaments played). WEEKS AT NO. 1: Djokovic is fifth on the No. 1 Emirates ATP Rankings list with 93 consecutive weeks since July 7, 2014. He is also fifth on the overall weeks with 194 at No. 1 (as of April 11): CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT NO. 1 OVERALL WEEKS AT NO. 1 1) Roger Federer 237 1) Roger Federer 302 2) Jimmy Connors 160 2) Pete Sampras 286 3) Ivan Lendl 157 3) Ivan Lendl 270 4) Pete Sampras 102 4) Jimmy Connors 268 5) Novak Djokovic 93 5) Novak Djokovic 194 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Day 1 – Sunday, April 10, 2016 Page 2 of 10 www.ATPWorldTour.com STREAKS ON THE LINE: Djokovic has several streaks entering Monte-Carlo: No. Last Loss/Time - ATP Masters 1000 wins 22 2015 Cincinnati final (l. to Federer) - Overall SF wins 21 2014 Shanghai (l. to Federer) - Overall matches 14 2016 Dubai QF (ret. vs. Lopez) - vs. Top 10 12 2015 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals RR (l. to Federer) - ATP Masters 1000 finals + 11 2014 Shanghai (l. to Federer in SF) + DNP play Madrid in 2015 ROGER RETURNS: Federer, who is playing in Monte-Carlo for the 13th time in his career, makes his return to the ATP World Tour after undergoing knee surgery on Feb. 3. The 34-year-old Swiss superstar planned to return in Miami but withdrew due to gastroenteritis. Prior to his injury, Federer reached the final in Brisbane (l. to Raonic) and the semi-finals at the Australian Open (l. to Djokovic) on Jan. 28. The four-time finalist (2006-08, 2014) has a 28-12 record in Monte-Carlo. The only other tournament he has played more without winning the title is Rome (15 times). APRIL FAVOURITE MONTH FOR RAFA: Nadal’s most productive month is April with 15 of his 67 career titles followed by May (12), June (11) and July (7). Nadal, who won the Monte-Carlo title every year from 2005-12, is seeking his ninth crown. He has a 53-4 career record in Monte-Carlo with a tournament record eight titles. His 46-match Monte-Carlo title winning streak ended with a runner-up in 2013. His last title came in 2012 (d. Djokovic). Over the last three years he is 9-3 with a runner-up in 2013 (l. to Djokovic), QF in 2014 (l. to Ferrer) and SF last year (l. to Djokovic). Nadal comes in with a 12-6 record on the season (4-2 on clay) and he was a semi-finalist in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. This is the fifth time since 2005 that Nadal enters Monte-Carlo without a title on the season. Four times he captured his first title of the year in Monte-Carlo: 2008, 2010-11-12. CLAY-COURT TITLE LEADERS: Nadal is two clay-court titles away from equaling Guillermo Vilas’ all-time record of 49 tournament wins on the surface. The title leaders on clay are: Player Clay Titles Guillermo Vilas 49 Rafael Nadal 47 Thomas Muster 40 Bjorn Borg 30 Manuel Orantes 30 MURRAY BACK IN MONACO: Murray returns to Monte-Carlo for the first time since 2013 when he lost in the 3R (l. to Wawrinka). Murray is a two-time semi-finalist in Monte-Carlo in 2009 and ’11 (l. to Nadal both times). Murray has an 11-7 tournament record. Last year he won his maiden clay title at ATP Masters 1000 Madrid. NEXT GENERATION: There are three Next Generation players in the main draw: Main Draw Rank Age Andrey Rublev (WC) No. 158 18 yrs., 5 months Alexander Zverev No. 54 18 yrs., 11 months Borna Coric No. 48 19 yrs., 4 months Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Day 1 – Sunday, April 10, 2016 Page 3 of 10 www.ATPWorldTour.com IVO RETURNS, EYES MILESTONE: The oldest player in the singles draw, 37-year-old Ivo Karlovic, makes his return to the ATP World Tour after being sidelined with a knee injury. Karlovic, who is 0-4 this season, last played in Acapulco on Feb. 23 (l. to Bedene in 1R). Karlovic is also trying to earn his 300th career match win (299-267). STRONG DOUBLES FIELD: Eight of the Top 10 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings are entered in the draw, led by No. 1 and Australian Open champions Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares. The reigning champions are five-time winners Bob & Mike Bryan (2007, 2011-12, 2014-15). They were attempting to capture their first title of the season, 110th career in Houston late on Saturday. They have won a record 109 career titles together (35 ATP Masters 1000, 16 Grand Slam). They are making their 10th straight trip to Monte-Carlo and 13th overall. They have a 30-6 career match record. The top seeds are last year’s No. 1 duo Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. Here is a look at the Top 10 teams entered based on the April 4 rankings: 1) Jamie Murray & Bruno Soares 2) Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Nicolas Mahut 3) Daniel Nestor & Radek Stepanek 4) Treat Huey & Max Mirnyi 5) Juan Sebastian Cabal & Robert Farah 6) Feliciano Lopez & Marc Lopez 7) Raven Klaasen & Rajeev Ram 10) Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan TEAM TO WATCH: The French duo of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings, are trying to become only the second team in ATP Masters 1000 history (since 1990) to win the first three Masters 1000 titles of the season (also Bryans in 2014). They won back-to-back titles in Indian Wells (d. Pospisil/Sock) and Miami (d. Klaasen/R. Ram) and they enter Monte-Carlo on a 10-match winning streak. ZIMONJIC AIMS FOR SIX: Tour veteran Nenad Zimonjic is seeking his sixth Monte-Carlo title. The 39-year-old, who is teaming up with Edouard Roger-Vasselin this week, has emerged victorious five times with four different partners – Julien Benneteau (2013), Daniel Nestor (2009- 10), Leander Paes (2005) and Tim Henman (2004). Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters Day 1 – Sunday, April 10, 2016 Page 4 of 10 www.ATPWorldTour.com SEEDS TO WATCH THIS WEEK SINGLES: SEED PLAYER RECORD BEST FINISH 1 Novak Djokovic (SRB) 28-7 W 2013, ’15 2 Andy Murray (GBR) 11-7 SF 2011, ’09 3 Roger Federer (SUI) 28-12 F 2014, ‘08, ‘07, ‘06 4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 17-7 W 2014 5 Rafael Nadal (ESP) 53-4 W 2005-12 6 Tomas Berdych (CZE) 18-11 F 2015 7 David Ferrer (ESP) 26-11 F 2011 8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) 11-6 SF 2013 9 Richard Gasquet (FRA) 14-8 SF 2005 10 Milos Raonic (CAN) 7-5 QF 2014-15 11 David Goffin (BEL) 1-3 R32 2015 12 Dominic Thiem (AUT) 0-2 R64 2014-15 13 Gael Monfils (FRA) 8-9 SF 2015 14 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) 4-3 R16 2015 15 Gilles Simon (FRA) 10-9 SF 2012 16 Benoit Paire (FRA) 2-3 R32 2013, ’15 QUALIFIERS (7): OLDEST: YOUNGEST: TBC on Sunday Ivo Karlovic – 37 y, 1 m Andrey Rublev – 18 y, 5 m WILDCARDS (4): Marco Cecchinato TOP COUNTRY BREAKDOWN: Lucas Pouille Spain (10), France (9), Czech Republic (3), Italy (3), Russia (3) Andrey Rublev Fernando Verdasco DOUBLES: SEED TEAM BEST FINISH SEED TEAM BEST FINISH 1 Rojer & Tecau 0-2; R16 2015 5 Bryan & Bryan 30-6; W 2015, ’14,