ATP Monte Carlo Masters predictions, odds and tennis betting tips: Rune ready to live up to expectations

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Best bet

Holger Rune
1pt each-way 12-1 bet365

ATP Monte Carlo Masters preview

The eagerly awaited return of Novak Djokovic is the main storyline ahead of this week’s Monte Carlo Masters as the world number one gets set for just his second start since winning the Australian Open at the end of January.

Djokovic is a two-time winner at the Monte Carlo Country Club, where the first-round action starts on Sunday, having been crowned champion in 2013 and 2015, and his hat-trick bid has been made easier by the absence of clay-loving Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz.

However, freshness may not be the best recipe for success as the Serb was a second-round casualty when forced to follow a similar schedule last year, while he exited the 2021 tournament in round three.

Djokovic has twice won the French Open but clay is his least preferred surface and there are enough doubts to oppose him at short odds.

Stefanos Tsitsipas is the two-time defending Monte Carlo champion and the 2021 French Open runner-up comes into his own on clay.

But the Greek star has underwhelmed since playing second fiddle to Djokovic in the Australian Open final, citing a shoulder injury for his poor displays at Indian Wells and Miami.

Third seed Daniil Medvedev has never looked comfortable on this terrain so rising Danish star Holger Rune could represent the each-way value.

Rune is housed in the same quarter as Medvedev and, therefore, the same half as top seed Djokovic. But there are plenty of reasons to suggest that he could upstage those illustrious rivals.

The 19-year-old was the French Open junior champion in 2019 and reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros on his first attempt in the men’s draw last year.

Rune’s biggest success came on indoor hard courts at last season’s Paris Masters – he lowered the colours of Djokovic in the final – but it was always thought that clay would be his best surface.

Dominic Thiem, US Open champion in 2020, isn’t the force of old, making Rune a worthy favourite in the second quarter and a potential semi-final showdown with Djokovic could be much closer than the outright odds imply.

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