ATP: Alcaraz reigns supreme in Monte-Carlo

The Spaniard is undefeated in four Grand Slam finals and now has a 6-1 record in Masters 1000 finals, following a 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 triumph over Lorenzo Musetti on Sunday. Time and time again, Carlos Alcaraz is proving he is built different, rising to the occasion once again.

Musetti dazzled to open up the lead, but became hampered by a right leg injury in the second set. However, Alcaraz was delivering some spectacular tennis on the run, shot making with a smile to land his sixth Masters 1000 crown, tying Daniil Medvedev in 10th on the all-time leaderboard.

"It's been a really difficult week with a lot of difficult situations," said Alcaraz, who returns to world No.2 on Monday.

"I'm really proud of my myself how I've dealt with everything. It's been a really difficult month for me on the court and outside.

"Coming here and seeing how the whole hard work has paid off, I'm really happy."

The 18-time titlist arrived in Monte-Carlo off the back of an under-par Sunshine Swing. Alcaraz succumbed to eventual Indian Wells champion Jack Draper in the semi-finals, prior to a second round 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 loss to wily Belgian David Goffin over in Miami.

The body language wasn't quite right, there wasn’t a spring in the Spaniard's step. Not in Monte-Carlo, 'Charly' dug deep for three-set victories over Francisco Cerundolo and Arthur Fils, alongside an engaging 7-6(2), 6-4 tussle with compatriot Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the semi-finals.

Alcaraz was drawing in the crowd, playing instinctively, clearly enjoying himself again.

It’s a timely triumph for the reigning Roland-Garros champion, who insists he will use this week in the Principality as a template for the clay court swing – erasing all expectations, outside noise, to focus on the fun factor. Alcaraz wants to hunt titles with a clarity of mind and more significantly, happiness.

“A lot of people have really high expectations on me, on having a really good clay season. Probably they want me to win almost every tournament, so it's difficult to deal with it, I guess,” said Alcaraz, the sixth Spaniard to win Monte-Carlo.

“But one thing that I learned the last month is I have to think about myself. I have to think about myself. I have to just think about my people, my team, my family, my close friends. No matter what happens on court - if I win, if I lose - I just have to leave the court happy. I'm proud about everything I have done. So that's something that I learned, and I think I did it this week and it paid off.

“In the next couple of months in this clay season, I will try to just keep going the same way that I approached this tournament and not think about the people talking about expectations.

“If I win, it is great. If I don't win, I will learn and just keep going and making the things that make me happy.”

Alcaraz's tennis certainly made the Monte-Carlo crowds happy over the week and so did an inspired Musetti.

The 23-year-old, rewarded with a career-high ranking of No.11 on Monday, manged to prevail in four contests going the distance – including victories over the 2024 champion Stefanos Tsitsipas and No.8 seed Alex De Minaur. The Italian also overwhelmed his countryman Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-3 during a week which emboldened his clay court credentials for the very top prizes.

“I take a lot of positive stuff. I have reached some of my goals,” said Musetti. “Of course we are trying to be ambitious to motivate myself of course because the Top 10 is not there yet. That was probably the main goal of the season right now. But we are close enough to keep fighting, keep dreaming.

“Clay is my favourite surface. It's my natural habitat. This week gave me the confidence to be more ambitious even in bigger tournaments like this one or Roland-Garros.

"It's a massive point of the season, really important, I don't have so many points to defend. So hopefully I can be prepared to do some great things. I feel like I have the level to stay at the top on clay.”