Although the French Open title is more prestigious, and thus where Rafa Nadal has secured the moniker “king of clay”, it’s Monte Carlo where his dominance has reached epic proportions.

Monte Carlo is a strange Masters 1000.  Of the Masters 1000 titles, it’s the only considered “optional”.  You aren’t penalized for skipping the event with a 0 pointer.  Top 30 players are required to play all the Masters 1000 events, although there are special exemptions (Federer just hit the jackpot of exemptions and is no longer required to play any of the Masters 1000 events).

This means various pros, in particular Americans, who may want to avoid overly extended stays in Europe, skip this event, but the French, say, come out in force.   There have been several occasions where Rafa, in a bit of a slump (most notably 2009 when he lost the French Open up to 2010 prior to Monte Carlo where he won no titles), came to Monte Carlo and rejuvenated his game.

And so he’s here once again to test out his knees.  Rafa skipped Miami and has only played one hard court event (Indian Wells) which he won.  Both he and Federer skipped Miami and Federer is not planning to play Monte Carlo either.

Monte Carlo is said to be one of the most beautiful courts in the world on par with the Foro Italico where Rome is played.  Set in Monaco on the southeast of France, the event has been played for more than 100 years.  Were the Doherty brothers, Reggie and Lawrence, one person, they would have set the record with 10 consecutive titles back in the amateur days when so many fewer players were playing.  Rafa could, with modern technology, beaten both playing doubles with his wicked spin and power, hitting shots they could never have dreamt of.

The big “if” is whether Rafa’s knees will hold up.  Presumably, he wouldn’t have played if that weren’t the case.  He’s having to defend a great deal of points and even with David Ferrer skipping Monte Carlo due to his own injuries, the number 5 player  the world (Rafa) will still need to win to keep the gap between him and his fellow Spaniard from widening.  Ferrer has been lucky to do so badly at Monte Carlo last year and is defending a mere 10 points, a drop in the ATP points bucket.

Novak Djokovic, considered his biggest rival on clay, chose to play on a gimpy ankle suffered during his victory over Sam Querrey in the reverse singles.  Djokovic said he would have not played on had it not been for Davis Cup and what it means to him.  Of course, Djokovic isn’t interested in playing 80%, not when clay can be so demanding.

And there’s Andy Murray who is in his second year of working with Lendl.  Murray is weak in exactly the surfaces Lendl is strong, well, in particular, on clay (both loved the hard courts).   So Lendl is working with Murray to make him a better clay court player, a surface he plays maybe 3-4 times a year.  Those who watched some of the early points of the semis between Murray and Gasquet in Miami saw clay court points being played on hard courts.  Will it be enough to derail the king of clay?

And since clay is Murray’s weakest surface, he may have to deal with a variety of opponents who prefer the clay or at least are very adept at it including Wawrinka, Gasquet, and Tsonga.

Given this is a one week Masters 1000 event, players are playing difficult matches right away.  For example, Janko Tipsarevic just lost to Grigor Dimitrov who may be seeking a big breakthrough this year.

The top seeds all get byes, so Rafa isn’t expected to play until tomorrow.  Djokovic is waiting to see whether he’ll drop out or not.  Murray is also expected to play tomorrow.  Once play begins, most of these players will play consecutive days all the way to the finals.

And by then, we’ll have answers whether Rafa is, indeed, still the king of Monte Carlo.