\n<\/strong>By 2021, Tsitsipas had already established himself as a top-tier contender \u2014 notably winning the prestigious\u00a0Nitto ATP Finals\u00a0on his debut in 2019 \u2014 but the then-No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings had yet to claim a Masters 1000 title. That changed in Monte-Carlo, where he played with an authority that underpinned the recent rise he had enjoyed.<\/p>\n
The Greek\u2019s victory was a watershed moment. It was not just his first Masters crown but also a landmark for tennis in his country, making him the first player from his nation to triumph at this level. Tsitsipas’s dominant run, in which he did not drop a set, ended with a championship-match win that avenged his recent Rotterdam loss to\u00a0Andrey Rublev\u00a0and improved him to 4-3 in their intriguing Lexus ATP Head2Head series.<\/p>\n
Two months after his maiden Monte-Carlo triumph, Tsitsipas went on to reassert his clay-court prowess at\u00a0Roland Garros, where he became the first Greek player to reach a Grand Slam final. Despite squandering a two-sets-to-love lead against\u00a0Novak Djokovic\u00a0on that occasion, his run confirmed his career-high ascent to No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings.<\/p>\n
![\"<a](\"https:\/\/ed.atptour.com\/-\/media\/2024-images\/news\/2025\/03\/18\/16\/36\/tsitsipas-monte-carlo-2021-celebration.jpg\")
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2022: Confirming His Dominance Already a seven-time tour-level champion, Tsitsipas\u2019 experience considerably outweighed that of his opponent in the championship match, ATP Tour final debutant\u00a0Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. The Spaniard had notched the biggest win of his career by stunning top seed Djokovic in the second round, but he was unable to produce another memorable upset. By successfully defending his title at the clay-court Masters 1000, Tsitsipas reinforced his reputation as one of the Tour\u2019s premier players on the surface.<\/p>\n 2024: Stef\u2019s \u2018Holy Trinity\u2019 By dismantling fellow former\u00a0Roland Garros\u00a0runner-up\u00a0Casper Ruud\u00a06-1, 6-4 in the final, Tsitsipas claimed his first title in eight months, and a third Monte-Carlo crown in four years. His success levelled him with Nastase, Borg and Muster as a three-time champions at the event.<\/p>\n \u201cWinning this tournament three times is something I would have never imagined,\u201d said Tsitsipas, who improved to 22-3 at the event. \u201cEven the first time, I obviously thought it was a great feeling and this place is special towards me. But getting the Holy Trinity, as I call it, is something that I will fully cherish.\u201d<\/p>\n 2025: Chasing A Historic Quadruple Tsitsipas has lifted the trophy three times in four years<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classifiee-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n<\/strong>If winning a Masters 1000 title was a breakthrough, defending it proved Tsitsipas\u2019 staying power. With a target on his back in 2022, Tsitsipas’ second consecutive title run in Monte-Carlo was highlighted by his testing two-hour, 43-minute win against Argentine\u00a0Diego Schwartzman\u00a0in the quarter-finals. He then claimed his third straight clay-court victory against World No. 3\u00a0Alexander Zverev\u00a0to reach the title tilt.<\/p>\n![\"<a](\"https:\/\/ed.atptour.com\/-\/media\/2024-images\/news\/2022\/04\/17\/14\/57\/tsitsipas-monte-carlo-2022-trophy.jpg\")
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\n<\/strong>After suffering a quarter-final defeat to Taylor Fritz in 2023, two-time champion Tsitsipas returned to Monte-Carlo in 2024 with a clear goal in sight: to reclaim the trophy. The defining moment of his campaign perhaps came in the form of his three-set semi-final victory over World No. 2 Jannik Sinner. Trailing 2-4 in the final set, Tsitsipas conjured some inspired shot-making to reel off four consecutive games and inflict only the Italian\u2019s second defeat of the season.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>After narrowly missing out on qualification for the\u00a0Nitto ATP Finals\u00a0in 2024, and suffering a first-round exit at the\u00a0Australian Open\u00a0this January, Tsitsipas seems to have turned his fortunes around in recent weeks. The 26-year-old soared to his maiden ATP 500 title in Dubai and followed it up with a run to the quarter-finals in Indian Wells. Monte-Carlo now offers him the perfect stage to build on his legacy at the event.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"