The 2026 Monte Carlo Masters begins on April 5 with Carlos Alcaraz priced as the tennis betting favourite to defend his title.
Coming off a Sunshine Double, Jannik Sinner has been imperious on the hard courts and will be looking to translate that form to the clay courts of Europe.
Monte Carlo Masters 2026 Outright Preview
Top Two
Alcaraz’s record on clay means he’s the favourite here, despite defeats to Sebastian Korda and Daniil Medvedev in the last two events. The Spaniard lost one match on clay in 2025, which was a defeat to Holger Rune in the final in Barcelona.
Sinner lost the French Open and Rome Masters finals to Alcaraz. The Italian is on a 12-match winning run after his premature exit in Doha, and he only dropped one set on clay to anyone other than Alcaraz in 2025.
Stefanos Tsitsipas is the only player other than Alcaraz to have beaten Sinner on clay since the 2023 French Open.
Withdrawals
Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz have withdrawn from the event, with their spots taken by Sebastián Báez and Térence Atmane, respectively.
Former champion Stan Wawrinka, 2016 runner-up Gaël Monfils, teenage sensation Moïse Kouamé, and veteran Matteo Berrettini have been given wild card entries.
It’s notable that Djokovic is one of two players to defeat Sinner this season. Fritz only went 3-4 on clay courts in 2025.
It’s no secret Berrettini is comfortable on clay, as he reminded everyone with a win over Alexander Zverev at this event in 2025. The Italian beat Alexander Bublik on the hard courts of Miami and his last three tour titles all came on clay courts.
Challengers to Alcaraz and Sinner
Francisco Cerúndolo and Tomás Martín Etcheverry won the Argentina Open and Rio Open, respectively. Etcheverry fell to Cerúndolo in the semis of the Argentina Open, making him the most in-form player on the surface.
Luciano Darderi has reached six finals on tour, all of which have been on clay courts. Darderi won the Chile Open earlier this year and has a 72-18 record on clay since the start of 2024.
Etcheverry bounced back from a disappointing year on the clay to start well in 2026, but his hard-court form leaves plenty to be desired with an underwhelming record in recent weeks.
Casper Ruud, like Etcheverry, hasn’t been at his best, as highlighted by a loss to Ethan Quinn in Miami.
Still, clay could bring the best out of Ruud, who defeated Fritz, Medvedev, and Jack Draper to win last year’s Madrid Open. Eighteen of his 26 tour finals have been on clay, including a 2024 loss to Tsitsipas.
Two players – Alcaraz and Sinner – have a better win-loss index on clay than Lorenzo Musetti over the last 12 months.
Musetti was 19-5 on clay in 2025 and took the first set in last year’s Monte Carlo Masters before Alcaraz’s comeback. He was also a semi-finalist at the French Open, Rome Masters, and Madrid Masters.
Who Will Win The 2026 Monte Carlo Masters?
With Alcaraz returning to the clay courts and Sinner coming off dominant showings in the Sunshine Swing, it feels like another final matchup between the two is inevitable. Alcaraz getting upset before the final is much less likely on clay than it was on the American hard courts.
With so little clay-court tennis played so far this year, it can be difficult to predict which players will thrive. Some clay-court specialists will be lower seeds than they should be – don’t be surprised if some of the higher seeds fall in the early rounds as a result.
This is a huge opportunity for Sinner to start the clay-court season with another title. We like the value on the Italian given how unstoppable he was in Florida.
Previous Monte Carlo Masters Winners
- 2025 – Carlos Alcaraz
- 2024 – Stefanos Tsitsipas
- 2023 – Andrey Rublev
- 2022 – Stefanos Tsitsipas
- 2021 – Stefanos Tsitsipas
- 2019 – Fabio Fognini
- 2018 – Rafael Nadal
- 2017 – Rafael Nadal
- 2016 – Rafael Nadal
- 2015 – Novak Djokovic
- 2014 – Stan Wawrinka
- 2013 – Novak Djokovic
- 2012 – Rafael Nadal
- 2011 – Rafael Nadal
- 2010 – Rafael Nadal
*Odds subject to change - prices accurate at the time of writing*
