It’s Djokovic Vs. Berdych
• FINALS DAY: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic takes a 16-match winning streak into today’s Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters final, where he will play World No. 8 Tomas Berdych. Djokovic, a champion here in 2013, and Berdych, a first-time finalist, meet for the 21st time with the Serb enjoying an 18-2 FedEx H2H series lead. The pair, however, has met just twice on clay, winning one apiece. Neither player has dropped a set en route to the final.
• WHAT’S AT STAKE:
Winner: €628,100 and 1,000 Emirates ATP Rankings points
Runner-up: €308,000 and 600 Emirates ATP Rankings points
• FINALS HISTORY:
Djokovic is bidding for a 23rd ATP Masters 1000 title (22-10) and a 52nd overall (51-23)
Berdych is bidding for a 2nd ATP Masters 1000 title (1-2) and an 11th overall (10-16)
• MASTERING THE MASTERS: A win today will see Djokovic become the first player ever to win the opening three ATP Masters 1000 tournaments of the season, having completed the Indian Wells-Miami title sweep for the third time in his career in March. He has been dominant at this tournament level in recent years, winning 17 of the last 38 (45%) Masters 1000 events. Victory would also see him draw level with Roger Federer on titles at this level and edge him closer to Nadal’s record haul.
• BIG SIX TITLE FEAT? Djokovic is on a 31-match winning streak at the highest-level tournaments: Grand Slams, ATP Masters 1000s, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The run dates back to his win in Paris-Bercy last November.
• BIG FOUR AT THE MASTERS: The quartet of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Andy Murray have accounted for 41 of the last 45 ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (since 2010 Monte-Carlo) and the Serb will look to make it 42 from 46 today. The only exceptions came at Paris-Bercy in 2010 (Soderling) and 2012 (Ferrer) and last year in Monte-Carlo (Wawrinka) and Toronto (Tsonga).
• THE 10-YEAR WAIT: Berdych is looking to add a second ATP Masters 1000 title, 10 years after winning his first in Paris-Bercy (d. Ljubicic). He has reached two other finals at this level, Miami 2010 (l. to Roddick) and Madrid 2012 (l. to Federer). Victory would see him become the 34th player to win multiple ATP Masters 1000 crowns and just the seventh active player to do so, after Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Lleyton Hewitt and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
• BERDYCH’S CONSISTENT 2015: Berdych will be hoping to add silverware to what has been a solid start to the season. The Czech has reached the SF-or-better at six of the seven tournaments he has contested in 2015, while all six of his losses have come against Top 10 opposition. His other final appearances this year came in Doha (l. to Ferrer) and Rotterdam (l. to Wawrinka).