Rafa returns in Monte Carlo

It’s hard to remember a match as good as the final of the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters between Rafael Nadal and Gael Monfils, and almost equally hard to remember a Masters 1000 final without Novak Djokovic.

On Sunday, however, Rafa Nadal looked to be back to his very best and totally unbeatable on clay, despite the best efforts of Frenchman, Gael Monfils. El Torro won his 28th Masters 1000 event to draw level with Novak Djokovic at the top, beating Monfils 7-5 5-7 6-0. Nadal will certainly be pleased with his performances, beating Murray, Wawrinka, Thiem and Bedene, only looking uncomfortable against the power of Monfils.

The wait for a Masters Title continues for Monfils, despite a good win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the semi final. The entertaining Frenchman rose to 14th in the rankings this week and will be delighted overall with his performances, as he looks to perhaps take tennis more seriously.

The biggest surprise of the tournament came in the second round, where Jiri Vesely played some of the best tennis of his life to beat World Number 1, Novak Djokovic, 6-4 2-6 6-4. The Czech rises two places this week and will hope to play this kind of tennis more often in future.

The performance of the tournament, however, must be awarded to Lucky Loser, Marcel Granollers, who beat rising star, Alexander Zverev and 11th seed, David Goffin to reach the quarter finals, and as a result, the Spaniard reaches the World’s Top 50 in the rankings, a rise of 17 places.

In the top 10, Jo Wilfried Tsonga’s heroic performance 3-6 6-2 7-5 win against Roger Federer to make the semi finals sees him climb to 7th in the rankings, at the expense of Tomas Berdych, who was well beaten by inform qualifier, Damir Dzumhur, who also rises 17 places to 82nd, and was very unlucky to lose to Milos Raonic in a last set tiebreak.

The tennis continues this week at the Barcelona Open, and in Bucharest, before the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid takes place as the clay season is well and truly underway.