For those who love tennis, for those who truly love it, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters is the ATP 1000 tournament that is really worth experiencing, at least once in a lifetime. There is no other tournament of this category, where the best players in the world participate, capable of offering its audience such an authentic experience. The reasons are various: the size of the club, with only three courts available for official matches; the duration of the tournament, which gathers all matches in one week; the fact that matches are not played in the evening hours; the contact with the players, who often pass through the public pathways to move from one area of the club to another; the absence of special effects.
At the Monte-Carlo Country Club, there is no need for exaggerated scenery, nor for deafening music to fuel a natural spectacle where the protagonist is tennis, pure and simple, as we have always known it. Nestled in the rock, between the sea and the mountains, this small corner of tennis paradise seems like the set of a 1970s film, yet still capable, after 119 editions, of satisfying everyone. Starting with the players, who in 2007 opposed the downgrade of the tournament proposed by the ATP, and who almost always decide to participate, even though today they are not even obliged to play it.
They say it is a test, a way to understand what their level will be for the clay court season. The truth is that many of them, like Sinner, Zverev, or Medvedev, are playing at home, living just a few steps from the club. The tournament schedule, where matches start at 11 in the morning and always end with the setting sun, allows them to enjoy a dinner at home or a walk along the promenade. Matteo Berrettini, on the day he handed Daniil Medvedev a double bagel in the second round of the tournament, was seen a few hours later shopping near his home with his girlfriend Vanessa Bellini.
But let’s get to the unique charm of the tournament, where many guests arrive in their sports cars, of every kind and color. Entrance number 1 is definitely the best to immediately enjoy a view that is unmatched in the world. The sight from the stands on Court Rainier III, which hosts about 10,000 people, is framed by the sea of the Côte d’Azur with its luxury yachts anchored offshore, and it is the first thing that makes you realize you are in a magical place. To get to the practice courts, you pass in front of the terrace tables overlooking the central court, carefully set up every morning by the numerous waiters in uniform, while the club begins to fill up.
Below the practice courts, the audience is divided between the two historic villages: the one open to all, with a central bar and the stands of numerous sponsors on the sides, and the famous VIP village. The latter overlooks the two secondary courts: the Court of the Princes and the Elizabeth-Ann de Massy court, places so intimate that those sitting in the front rows feel as if they are on the court with the players. In the VIP village, guests of certain prestige arrive: former players, famous personalities, designers, singers, and even the players themselves. Around the restaurants of the VIP Village, during lunchtime, there is always a band playing live music. It is a cheerful and refined place, capable of intriguing the audience of the Monte-Carlo Masters who, during the busiest hours, positions themselves outside the barrier hoping to see their idol sitting down for lunch.
Descending the stairs that lead to the secondary courts, you breathe a very different air: the smell of popcorn, mixed with that of toast and beers, brings you back to the normality of a place where early in the morning buses full of simple enthusiasts arrive. Adults and children walk up and down the stairs of the Country Club with tennis balls in hand, and their backpacks are loaded with sandwiches and water bottles.
But what is the secret ingredient in this little tennis paradise? Perhaps the fact that everything has remained the same as fifty or sixty years ago. The Country Club is a comfortable, refined, authentic place, where the public mingles with the royal family and its guests. There is no mandatory dress code, but everyone feels like dressing well. Or, at least, trying to. Even those who seem to have dressed casually, without effort, know perfectly well what they have chosen to wear to attend the tournament that bears the name of the most glamorous sponsor in tennis. The energy of this tournament is electric, contagious, and addictive. As you climb the stairs leading to the exit, you already know that you will return and that, when you do, you will be happy.