Last week, I made the following assertions:
- Djokovic and Murray are playing well off their best, which
- Leaves Nadal poised to win several of the European clay court tournaments as well as Roland Garros.
Let's review what happened after I wrote that.
- Murray lost in the round of 16 against Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
- Djokovic lost in the quarterfinals against the Roadrunner, David Goffin.
- After his kind of shaky, three-set victory against Kyle Edmund, Rafa
- demolished Sasha Zverev, 1 and 1, in the round of 16--the same Sasha Zverev who pushed him to five very tough sets at the Australian.
- handled Diego Schwartzman, 4 and 4, in the quarters.
- ended the Roadrunner's run, 3 and 1, in the semis.
- dispatched Ramos-Vinolas, 1 and 3, to take the championship, his tenth at Monte Carlo.
Consider this: no man in the Open era had ever won ten titles at a single tournament before. Furthermore, this title gave Rafa the 50th clay court title of his career, lifting him out of a tie with Guillermo Vilas for most in the Open era.
A victory at Roland Garros would be Rafa's tenth title there as well. Anyone want to bet against him?