Novak Djokovic suffered one of the most humiliating losses of his distinguished career in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters 2024. Following a shocking loss against the “Lucky Loser” Luca Nardi, Djokovic withdrew from the Miami Open 2024. As the World No.1 prepares to make a deep run in only the third tournament he participates in this season, an unfavorable draw at the Monte Carlo Masters 2024 could hurt Djokovic’s morale even before the ATP 1000 tournament begins.
Being the #1 seed at Monaco, Novak Djokovic will receive a bye in the first round. The Serbian’s campaign will kickstart when he faces Roman Safiullin in the second round before potentially going up against American No.1, Taylor Fritz in the third round.
The two-time winner of the Monte Carlo Masters should have no problem breezing into the quarterfinals. However, a potential clash against defending champion, Andrey Rublev could cause Novak Djokovic a problem, but not something that the 36-year-old won’t be able to handle.
Djokovic’s toughest opponent is most likely to be Carlos Alcaraz, expected to face each other in the semifinals. The #3 seed currently trails the 24-time Grand Slam winner 2-3 in their head-to-head matchups, but could very well even things up on the clay courts that he loves a lot. Despite the tricky encounter against the Spaniard, a win could get Djokovic closer to winning his third title at Monaco after potentially defeating either Jannik Sinner or Daniil Medvedev in the finals.
This is what Novak Djokovic’s path to the finals looks like:
First Round – Bye
Second Round – Roman Safiullin
Third Round – Taylor Fritz
Quarter-Final – Andrey Rublev
Semi-Final – Carlos Alcaraz
Final – Jannik Sinner/Daniil Medvedev
Novak Djokovic has made four final appearances at the Monte Carlo Masters
Novak Djokovic played in the era where Rafael Nadal asserted his command over all clay court tournaments. Despite the domination of Rafa, Novak found himself in the finals at the Monte Carlo Masters on four occasions.
Back in 2009 and 2012, Djokovic lost to Nadal 3-6, 6-2, 1-6 and 3-6, 1-6 respectively.
However, in 2013, the Serbian got his revenge, stunning the “Raging Bull” in the finals. Putting up a terrific performance, Djoko went on to hand Rafa his first finals loss at the Monte-Carlo Masters. Merely two years later, the Joker would lift the title once again, defeating Tomas Berdych 7–5, 4–6, 6–3 in the 2015 finals.
