Every year after the Sunshine Doubles, the clay season begins in April.
Compared with last year, this year's clay season has undergone new changes. Last year's master camp was still "2 giants (Nadal, Djokovic) + 2 kings (Tsitsipas, Zverev Jr.)", this year these 4 are not in good shape, plus supernova Alcaraz and Aliasim came to stir up trouble, the situation may be more chaotic.
The first clay masters tournament of the year, Monte Carlo, has been signed, and the long-lost Djokovic has won Alcaraz, and a good show is about to be staged.
| This year the clay shuffled again, and the deer died whose hands were confused
The protagonists of last year's clay season were 2 giants and 2 post-95 kings. Among them, Djokovic defeated Tsitsipas to win the French Open for the second time, Nadal defeated Djokovic to win the Rome Masters, Tsitsipas defeated Rublev to win the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time, and Zverev Jr. beat Beretini to win the Madrid Masters.
However, none of these four are in very good shape this year.
Djokovic only played one game this year, because there was no vaccination, in other competitions frequently closed doors; and Nadal, who returned to the peak, did not last too long, and withdrew from nearly half of the clay games due to rib injuries, whether the French Open can play is still to be determined; Tsitsipas has been unstable at the beginning of the year, and there are no bright results, and it remains to be seen; the situation of Zverev Jr.'s mental instability is getting more and more serious, and it is often exploding in place, making many people unhappy.
Although Wawrinka, Thiem and other clay masters announced their comeback, they still had a poor record, and the challenge match was lost to the top 100 players.
However, the supernova lineup has expanded again, and in addition to Sinar, Aliassim, who broke out at the Australian Open, and Alcaraz, who transformed in the sunshine double, became the focus of this year's clay.
| The Monte Carlo Masters are out of the table, with Djokovic against Alcaraz
The Monte Carlo Masters, which will kick off on April 11, is out of the table, and the long-lost Djokovic did not have a good signing, winning the No. 8 seed Alcaraz. The large seed alignments are as follows:
Djokovic [1] vs Alcaraz [8]; Rudd [4] vs Norrie [7];
Tsitsipas [3] V Aliasim [6]; Zverev Jr. [3] vs Rublev [5].
Djokovic's path to advancement: first-round bye; second round against Fawkina in last year's French Open quarter-finals; Evans/Agut in the third round, Monte Carlo lost to Evans in the third round last year; Alcaraz in the fourth round; Rudd in the semi-finals, Tsitsipas/Zverev Jr. in the final.
The Monte Carlo Masters are the start of the clay season, with almost two months to go until the French Open starts at the end of May, so there's no need to dwell too much on the results. Djokovic's clay season last year was a low start and a high start, the first few games were sluggish, winning the hometown tournament, winning the runner-up at the Rome Masters, and finally reaching the Top of the French Open.