Quarterfinal Friday at Monte Carlo has to be one of the best tickets in tennis.
Because the surface is clay, there will be long, athletic, often-artistic rallies—dirtball is best seen live and up close.
Because the tournament is a Masters 1000, you usually see a star player or two. Rafael Nadal was a Friday fixture here for the better part of two decades. This year his co-heirs, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, are in action.
Because the location is Monaco—technically the town next door, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France—you also get the Mediterranean, its sun, and it’s sky. Weather permitting, of course.
On paper, at least, the matches look like they might live up to the setting this year. Here’s a preview of the first four quarters of the clay season.
Alexander Zverev vs. Joao Fonseca
This will be the inaugural meeting between the German veteran and the Brazilian prodigy. Game-wise, they make for a stark contrast. Zverev likes to massage the ball around the court with depth and topspin, and rely on his 6’6 length to cover the baseline. Fonseca, meanwhile, has never met a forehand that he couldn’t pulverize. On Thursday, his 105-m.p.h. bullet left Matteo Berrettini shaking his head.
Form-wise, Zverev and Fonseca have more in common. Both had their lulls and stumbles in 2025, but both have looked refreshed over the past couple month. Fonseca made a fourth-round run in Indian Wells, while Zverev reached the semis in Miami. Both lost tough two-setters to Jannik Sinner—no shame in that.
In Monte Carlo, Fonseca and Zverev have each survived a three-setter—Zverev against Cristian Garin, Fonseca against Arthur Rindeknech. And each looked better in their straight-set round of 16 wins. We don’t know how they’ll match top face to face. On the one hand, Fonseca looks like he might be ready to uncork an upset. On the other hand, Zverev isn’t easy for most guys to bully off of a clay court, especially when he’s as confident as he seems to be right now.
I’ll go with experience over youth, and caution over boldness, until proven otherwise. Winner: Zverev