Sascha Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will start the clay court season hoping to be a serious threat for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic starting from Monte Carlo.
Sascha Zverer
The German didn’t start this season in the best possible way. Sascha played just 4 tournaments, and his best results were reaching the 4th round at the Australian Open and the final in Acapulco. Later, Zverev crashed out in the 3rd round in Indian Wells and his opening match in Miami.
However, Sascha has a fantastic record on clay, and he has already won 4 tournaments in Munich (twice), Rome and Madrid.
Zverev in Monte Carlo
In Monte Carlo, Sascha had a good run last year after he reached the semifinal in Monte Carlo before losing to an in-form Nishikori.
Zverev’s H2H record against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Zverev has a 0-5 H2H record against Nadal (0-3 on clay), but he has a 2-2 H2H record against Djokovic (and he leads 1-0 on clay). That means that while he may not be lucky against Nadal, he will fancy his chances against Djokovic in a possible match-up.
Stefanos Tsitsipas
The Greek enjoyed most of his success on hard courts after he won the ATP250 in Stockholm and Marseille, he triumphed at the Next GenFinals in Milan, and he reached the semifinals in Melbourne.
However, the world no.8 grew up on clay and last year he reached the final in Barcelona and the semifinal in Estoril. Stefanos also proved that he can stay with top claycourt specialists after he lost in 4 sets in the 2nd round of the French Open to an in-form Dominic Thiem that eventually was the tournament runner-up.
Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo
In 2018, Stefanos started his campaign in Monte Carlo from the qualifications, and he reached the 2nd round after beating Florent Diep, Mirza Basic, and Denis Shapovalov in straight sets.
Tsitsipas’ H2H record against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic
Stefanos has a bad 0-3 head to head record against Rafael Nadal (0-7 in terms of sets) and a 1-0 win-loss record against Djokovic.
Similarly to Zverev, the Greek should have slim chances to upset Nadal in Monte Carlo on clay while he might have a shot against Djokovic.
